Air Quality Improves In S Sumatra With Decrease In Haze

Palembang, South Sumatra, Oct 23 (Antara) - The emergency status, which was announced several weeks ago in the South Sumatra province, has been revoked on Thursday following a decrease in haze. "The haze, which had disrupted people`s activities and the safety of transportation, is decreasing significantly. The air quality in South Sumatra is back to normal level. Hence, we revoke the emergency status today," local Chief of the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Yulizar Dinoto stated here on Thursday. He explained that the haze in South Sumatra had decreased as a result of the efforts taken by the central and local government to extinguish hundreds of hotspots that were detected in the area. Apart from deploying related officials to put out the forest fires, the local disaster mitigation agency also used helicopters in the South Sumatra area to conduct cloud seeding operations. As of now, the efforts to extinguish the forest fires are still ongoing as several hotspots have been detected in the area.