Forest Fires Hit Five Indonesian Provinces, Floods Affect Thousands In North Sumatra

By Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil

JAKARTA, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Forest and land fires have been reported in five Indonesian provinces, affecting 1,410 hectares, while floods have affected thousands of households in North Sumatra, prompting continued disaster response operations across the country.

National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Disaster Data, Information and Communication Centre acting head Berton Panjaitan said South Papua recorded the largest area under firefighting operations at 502 hectares, based on figures as of 7 am local time Friday.

It was followed by Central Sulawesi (295 hectares), Southeast Sulawesi (257 hectares), Maluku (182 hectares) and East Kalimantan (174 hectares).

"The pattern has changed considerably. Previously, fires were reported in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, and today, we are seeing fires in East Kalimantan, Central and Southeast Sulawesi, Maluku and South Papua," he said in a video briefing on Friday.

Berton said 58 aircraft, comprising 23 units for patrol, surveillance and weather modification operations and 35 water-bombing helicopters, remained deployed for firefighting operations.

He added that 23,900 kilogrammes of cloud-seeding materials, including salt and dry ice, had been used in Kalimantan and South Sumatra.

He said unhealthy air quality readings had been recorded in Sendawar, West Kutai district, and at three monitoring stations in Nusantara, Indonesia's new capital in East Kalimantan.

Separately, Berton said flooding in North Sumatra had affected 7,615 households.

He said seven provinces, namely Aceh, Lampung, Bengkulu, Riau, West Sumatra, South Sumatra and North Sumatra, were under heightened alerts for heavy to very heavy rainfall.

The weather forecast also indicated the potential for moderate to heavy rainfall across parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Java, Bali, Maluku, North Maluku, West and East Nusa Tenggara, and Papua.

-- BERNAMA