Number Of Hotspots Increases To 2,393 In Sumatra

Pekanbaru, Riau, March 12 (Antara) - Despite the government`s efforts to put out forest fires in Sumatra, the number of hotspots increased significantly to 2,393 on Wednesday morning, from 288 on Monday afternoon. "The smog haze is getting thicker. This morning, the visibility is only 300 meters in Pekanbaru," Head of the city`s Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, Sugarin, said. The low visibility had disrupted flights to and from Pekanbaru`s airport. About 90 percent or Sumatra`s 2,047 hotspots were detected in the Riau province by the Terra and Aqua satellite at 5 a.m. local time. The hotspots were found in 10 districts and cities in the province, with the largest number or 648 in Bengkalis, 439 in Siak, 338 in Meranti Islands, 202 in Rokan Hilir, 174 in Dumai, 114 in Pelalawan, 84 in Indragiri Hilir, eight in Indragiri Hulu, one in Rokan Hulu and three in Kampar. The data from the Haze Emergency Response Task Force showed that more than 14,000 hectares of forest, plantation and peat-soil areas had been razed by fires, mostly deliberately lit to illegally clear land for plantation and farming areas. The government of the Riau province announced on March 12 that it extended the timeline for emergency response as the fire problem continued to linger on. "Emergency response will last for the next 14 days. The decision was made due to the worsening air pollution, caused by the forest fires, in a few cities and districts in Riau," Riau`s Deputy Governor Abdul Latif stated. The Riau province had imposed an emergency response starting from February 26 to March 12. The deputy governor added that during the next two weeks, the authorities will focus on extinguishing the fires through weather modification and water bombs. At least six tons of salt had been released to trigger rains, and water bombs had been dropped by helicopters many times to extinguish the fires.