REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPN) has said teams from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore continue to launch joint aerial operations to put out forest and land fires in South Sumatra Province.
"The aerial operation teams continue to drop water bombs in Air Sugihan, Cengal and Indralaya, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) district, South Sumatra," BNPB Public Relations Head Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said here on Tuesday.
He said during the joint operations, a total of 10 aircraft and helicopters were mobilized to drop water bombs in the area.
"Six helicopters and two Air Tractor aircraft from Malaysia dropped 149 water bombs over the Air Sugihan and East Padamaran areas," he said.
Singapore's Chinook helicopter released six water bombs.
Malaysia's Bombardier aircraft carried out 13 water bombing sorties over the Cengal area.
"Based on the report we received, about 85 percent of the forest and land fires in the region have been extinguished," Nugroho added.
Efforts to induce artificial rain by cloud seeding also continued.
"The serious drought has been causing difficulties in producing rain because only a limited amount of clouds could be formed, " he said.
On Monday, rain fell over the Air Sugihan region at 2 p.m and 8 p.m local time.
"We spent a total of 73.3 tons of salt, sowed in the air of South Sumatra since last August," Nugroho said.
In the meantime, President Joko Widodo has urged the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to coordinate with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to tackle the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
"Besides the BNPB, I emphasize that all parties should cooperate to extinguish forest and land fires," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said here on Tuesday.
According to Luhut, the Indonesian authorities have spent Rp385 billion to fight forest fires and the consequential haze blanketing most of the region, including Sumatra and Kalimantan.
"There will be an additional budget amounting to Rp700 billion," he said.
The budget has been approved by the House of Representatives and the Minister of Finance.
"The operation is expected to reduce the extent of forest and land fires in the next two weeks," he said.
Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) district in South Sumatra Province has been accorded priority in efforts to put out land and forest fires as it had become the biggest source of haze, compared to other districts in Indonesia, Luhut Pandjaitan had said earlier.
"Visibility in OKI is only about 100 meters. It still remains the worst hit by haze, based on data we have received," he told the press here on Monday.
Luhut said after observing the burnt areas in OKI, he found that the district was the worst region to have been hit by forest and land fires.
"Once these fires were extinguished, they came back due to the winds blowing since the land there is covered by peat, which is very inflammable," the Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister said.
He said efforts to put out the fires through water bombing were also postponed due to low visibility.
"It was also very difficult to induce artificial rain there because the air was foggy and the clouds were still inadequate. We are still waiting for the arrival of a Hercules aircraft which would help support the efforts to produce man-made rain," he said.
The chief security minister also underscored that all related parties have been coordinating well.
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