Foreign aid pours in to combat fires

JAKARTA (JP): More than a dozen countries have contributed to efforts to fight the blazing brush and forest fires in Indonesia, with Australia sending two water bombers and Norway contributing funds to the effort yesterday.

The Australian water bombers arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport yesterday where they conducted a test flight before flying off to Bandar Lampung, Lampung.

Australian ambassador to Jakarta, John McCarthy, said the two Airtractor AT-802 planes will operate for 30 days in the hot spot areas.

Australia has pledged A$2 million (Rp 4.8 billion) to help fight the raging fires in Indonesia.

The relief funds will include emergency medical and pharmaceutical supplies, fire assessment and management advice.

"We provide one million Australian dollars initially for the plane, but if (Indonesia) needs more than one million for the plane, we'll put the money in that too," he said.

At yesterday's water bombing demonstration, McCarthy said 14 Australian firefighters, two pilots and four ground crews from the South Australian Country Fire Service would run the operation.

The Airtractor AT-802 is a fixed wing, turbine-powered plane that can carry 3,000 liters of water which will be dumped from a height of 15 meters to shower some 7,500 square meters.

The plane is the largest single-engine fire fighting aircraft in the world. It carries a crew of just one, the pilot.

As the water bomber conducts its operation, a second plane manned by an Air Attack Supervisor will fly above to direct the drop.

The planes sent to Indonesia belong to the Australian Maritime Resources.

The Norwegian Embassy stated here yesterday that its Ministry of Foreign Affairs had decided to contribute one million Norwegian kroner (US$140,000) to assist firefighting efforts.

From Kuala Lumpur, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported that Indonesia had received money, equipment and expert help to fight its raging forest fires from more than a dozen countries and aid organizations.

Assistance has come from Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as from UN agencies such as the World Health Organization, the UNDP said as quoted by DPA.

Brush and forest fires have swept through many parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan causing severe haze which has enveloped not only the two large islands, but also Singapore and Malaysia.

The fires have been exacerbated by the long dry season and the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Government officials said here Monday that "things are improving", highlighting the favorable wind patterns, sporadic rain and rigorous firefighting efforts which have helped alleviate the situation.

Despite the note of optimism, Antara reported that the number of hot spots in South Sulawesi had increased from 114 points covering 5,724 hectares to 141 hotspots covering 7,351 hectares in 19 regencies.

Licenses

Separately, the Ministry of Forestry announced yesterday that it has revoked another 15 wood-use permits of plantation and timber companies after they failed to present documents disproving allegations they started the brush and forest fires.

Director General of Forest Protection and Nature Preservation Soemarsono said yesterday the ministry has now revoked 166 wood- use permits.

But he failed to say which companies the additional revoked permits belonged to.

The ministry last week revoked 151 permits of 29 plantation and timber estates after failing to meet an Oct. 2 deadline for submitting evidence to support their innocence.

The government has accused 176 companies of violating strict laws against the burning of forest to clear land.

Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo said Monday that 96,700 hectares of forest areas have been destroyed, including 70,000 hectares of productive forests, 15,000 hectares of timber estates and 26,000 hectares of protected and conservation forests.

He said the financial loss of timber estates amounted to Rp 45 billion ($11.8 million) given an average value of Rp 3 million per hectare.

He said that his ministry had taken the necessary steps to combat the fires, by training 1,410 forest rangers, 97 instructors, 227 would-be instructors and deploying 8,988 firefighters to forestry companies. (08/09)

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