REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- The government of Riau province announced it will extend the timeline for emergency response following ongoing forest fires in the area, here on Tuesday.

"Emergency response will last for the next 14 days. The decision was made due to the worsening air pollution, caused by the forest fires, in a few cities and districts in Riau," Deputy Governor Abdul Latif said.

Previously, the Riau province had imposed an emergency response starting from February 26 to March 12.

The deputy governor added that in the next two weeks authorities will focus on extinguishing the fires through weather modification and water bombs.

Recently, the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) had released six tons of salt above the Riau province to trigger rain that could extinguish fires in about 13,000 hectares of land in the area.

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