REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DUMAI -- Haze arising from forest and plantation fires shrouded Dumai City, Riau Province, on Tuesday morning, leading to a slight reduction in visibility levels.
"I could smell haze when I went out this morning, but as the haze was not thick, we were still able to carry on with our routine activities without wearing face masks," Yusrel, a local resident, stated.
He urged the government to tackle the haze problem as it could affect the environment and health of the local inhabitants.
"We hope that the haze problem could be soon addressed in order to prevent it from worsening like what had happened last year that threatened the survival of living beings," he stated.
Joko Prabowo, a Dumai forest ranger, claimed that the haze emanated from the hotspots existing in the neighboring regions.
"Based on the monitoring by NOAA-18 satellite, we presume that the haze comes from neighboring regions because Dumai has nil hotspots," he affirmed.
Dumai city has set up a 35-member task force supported by local volunteers to deal with forest and plantation fires, he noted.
In the meantime, the Terra and Aqua satellites recently detected nine hotspots of forest and plantation fires in Riau Province, despite rains being reported over the last few days.
"The nine hotspots are detected in the northern part of Bengkalis District," Head of the Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Sugarin noted in a short text message.
Of the nine hotspots, six have accuracy above 70 percent, notably one in Bukitbati sub-district and five in Bengkalis sub-district.
The hotspots have the potential to produce haze that could envelop Pekanbaru, the province's capital. Currently, haze has affected Dumai city and Duri in Bengkalis District.
During a coordinating meeting held at the Roesmin Nurjadin Air Force Base in Pekanbaru, Monday, the Riau Haze Emergency Task Force decided to conduct water bombing using a helicopter and carry out cloud seeding operations to trigger artificial rains over the coastal area of Bengkalis District.
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