Worsening haze reduces visibility to almost zero

Worsening haze reduces visibility to almost zero

JAKARTA (JP): Worsening haze reduced visibility Thursday in
cities in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi to almost zero, and
wildlife in Kalimantan and Java is being affected, reports said
yesterday.

The Environmental Impact Management Agency said visibility was
only about 100 meters in the Riau subdistrict of Rengat in
Sumatra; the Panakukang subdistrict in South Sulawesi; and
Pangkalanbun regency in Central Kalimantan.

This is considered almost zero visibility.

According to the agency, United States' National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration satellite images detected Thursday 18
hot spots in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Java, down from
Wednesday's 53 hot spots.

Antara reported yesterday that 16,112 people in West Sumatra
had been afflicted by severe respiratory infections and 68 others
had fainted in the choking haze in the province's capital of
Padang.

West Sumatra provincial administration spokesman Yohannes
Dahlan said the number of people affected did not include those
from three regencies -- Agam, Padang Pariaman, and Pesisir
Selatan.

"The number is based on reports from eleven regencies...
reports from the other three regencies have yet to be completed,"
he said.

Head of the provincial health office Rasyidah Rasyid said the
province had received 150,000 respiratory masks, far fewer in
number than the province's population of 4.3 million.

Antara also reported that a fire that has destroyed 35
hectares of a state-owned timber estate in Banten, West Java, was
threatening the lives of protected local buffalo (Bos Sondaicus).

Villagers of Ciseukut in the Cigeulis subdistrict were
reported as saying that some of the buffalo had come out of the
East Cibaliung forest, which is near the fire.

"The buffaloes went through our village and they looked
vicious. There were tens of them," said Ciseukut villager Tarmin,
who reported the case to the Ujung Kulon National Park
authorities yesterday.

Zarkasi, an official of the national park which is ten
kilometers from Cibaliung forest, confirmed that the buffaloes
were fleeing because of the fires in East Cibaliung mahogany
forest.

"The chance is that the animals became restless because their
habitat is being destroyed by the fires and they were looking for
a safer place, the village," Zarkasi told Antara

Fires are also affecting wildlife in East Kalimantan.

The news agency reported that fires had razed up to 30,000
hectares of forest in East Kalimantan, including 300 hectares of
the 200,000-hectare Kutai National Park.

Total losses are estimated at Rp 70 billion (US$20 million).
(aan)