Ten hot spots found in South Kalimantan regencies

JAKARTA (JP): At least 10 hot spots, spread across five regencies, have been pinpointed in South Kalimantan since the end of July.

Madjedi, the head of the Environment Impact Management Body in South Kalimantan, told Antara on Sunday the sites were in Banjar Barat in Banjarmasin, Sungai Pinang in Banjar regency, Tabukan and Kuripan districts in Barito Kuala regency.

Hot spots are also reported to be in the regencies of Hulu Sungai Utara Hulu Sungai Selatan.

Madjedi said the areas were the site of crops and plantations.

Madjed said all relevant authorities had been warned to prevent fires from breaking out.

"Regents and mayors here are expected to increase their levels of alertness, so the potential of fires in this dry season can be reduced to a minimum," he said in the capital of Banjarmasin.

Sofayan Amir, secretary of the provincial coordinating post for disasters, said a public information campaign regarding the potential of forest fires here was being stepped up.

On Saturday, West Kalimantan authorities ordered children to stay inside due to haze from forest fires and burning crops, DPA reported.

West Kalimantan meteorology officials said haze from fires in the province was disrupting flights to and from Pontianak's Supadio Airport. Officials have called for urgent action to put out fires in West Kalimantan and the eastern Sumatra province of Riau.

Malaysia last week also prepared a national haze action plan, fearing a repeat of the health and traffic hazards in parts of Southeast Asia caused by Indonesian forest fires in 1997.

On Thursday, the environment ministry here located more than 280 hot spots during a flight over West Kalimantan.

Separately, Antara reported on Saturday that East Kalimantan officials have alerted all related institutions about the haze problem.

"We have warned companies not to carry out burning for land clearing," said Uuh Aliyuddin, the provincial forestry office chief.

He said the forestry office, in cooperation with Malaysia's fire brigade agency, recently provided training to 40 local firemen instructors, who are expected to set up voluntary fire brigades to deal with potential forest fires in the province.

From mid-1997 until early 1998, approximately 520,000 hectares of East Kalimantan's 17 million hectares, was razed following serious forest and field fires.

In Riau, the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) distributed on Sunday 1,000 masks to locals to help protect them from smog arising from forest fires.

The distribution was a form of protest against the local administration's failure to take any measure to protect the public, said Zufra Irwan, the PWI secretary in Riau.

"Haze is becoming denser each day, but the local administration has only asked the locals to be aware of it, and hasn't done anything significant to stop the forest fires," he said.

A heavy downpour on Friday failed to alleviate the smog.

Head of the local meteorological and geophysical office, Purwoko Soesilo, said the rain could not reduce the density of the haze, let alone put out the fires.

Riau is covered by peat which is prone to fire.

With the increased levels of smoke resulting from the fires, respiratory problems have become common in the region, shrouding parts of Riau in the past week. (edt)