Fire damage losses rise to Rp 8.27b: Report

JAKARTA (JP): The amount of East Kalimantan ravaged by fires this year has increased to 442,800 hectares while timber revenue losses have reached Rp 8,270 billion (US$1.06 billion), a news report said Saturday.

Quoting latest data from the provincial fire-fighting command post in Samarinda, Antara said the total area destroyed could increase further as fires were still raging despite some respite brought by intermittent rains.

The vegetation dryness index in the province with a total of about 21 million hectares of forest remains at 2,000, or 500 points above normal. This means the forests burn easily and the province is given the status of "very vulnerable to fires," the news agency said.

The still-burning fires are forest concessions, former forest concessions, Kutai National Park and timber estates.

More than 253,000 hectares of forest concessions alone have been ravaged, causing losses of Rp 5.078 billion in timber revenues, the news agency said.

Murdiansyah, of the fire-fighting command post, said his office was still making an inventory of companies which owned the affected concessions and timber estates.

The latest estimate of financial losses incurred in this year's fires in East Kalimantan is almost higher than last year's fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan put together, namely US$1.3 billion.

Government officials and experts have said that losses incurred to East Kalimantan's forest biodiversity are unmeasurable and that it will take more than a hundred years for the forest to regenerate to its earlier state. Financial losses related to increasing health costs, lost tourist revenue and canceled or delayed flights have yet to be calculated.

Antara said there were 13 hot spots, signifying fires, in the province, as detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite imaging.

The small number, compared to more than 500 the previous week, did not by any means signify a decrease in the number of fires as many hot spots might have escaped satellite detection due to hazy and cloudy weather, according to the German-Indonesia cooperating body Integrated Forest Fires Management.

To extinguish the fires and address the aftermath of the disaster, State Minister of Environment Juwono Sudarsono has estimated that some two billion dollars would be needed over five years.

Yesterday, Antara also reported that forest fires had forced many orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) to seek safer habitats in settlements near the Kutai National Park.

Husein Akma, an official from the provincial chapter of the Kaltim Prima Coal mining company, said employees had saved dozens of orangutans either injured in the fires or found starving since fleeing the fires.

Fires have so far ravaged up to 73,000 hectares of forest in the conservation area.

Many of the approximately 2,000 orangutans in East Kalimantan are currently wandering around areas of human settlement. Dozens have reportedly been given shelter by residents.

"We give them food and treat them if they are sick and later release them again," Akma added. (aan)