REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU - Thick haze has engulfed most of Riau province's capital city, Pekanbaru, since Tuesday morning.

"This haze is very disturbing," Ardiawan, a 34-year-old local resident, said on Tuesday. Ardiawan, who works at a delivery service company, expressed concern that the haze could be harmful to his health.

Thick haze blanketed Pekanbaru on Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday noon, the haze was still covering the city, thereby reducing visibility for motorcyclists and other vehicle users on the road.

The Riau government itself had allocated a budget of 10 billion IDR to anticipate the effects of haze in the area. Riau's Deputy Governor, Kasiarudin, noted that the local government is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to stop forest fires that cause thick haze.

"We have established a local disaster mitigation agency, which reports to the governor and related authorities on a daily basis," Kasiarudin remarked.

In the meantime, the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB) reported that it had allocated 350 billion IDR to deal with land and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan Islands, the agency's spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, stated.

Most of the budget was spent on leasing airplanes and helicopters, which were deployed for water bombing and cloud seeding operations to extinguish the forest and bush fires, Nugroho affirmed. The airplanes used in the operation were Casa 212, Camov, Sikorsky, Bolco, Mi-8, and C-130, he explained.

"The C-130 Hercules aircraft were not available, so we have chartered other aircraft," he pointed out.

About 50 billion IDR of the allocated funds have been utilized to deal with the drought in several areas in the country. The forest and bush fires in certain parts of Indonesia have caused haze, which has reduced the level of air quality index in the country and its neighbors, such as Singapore and Malaysia.

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