Wildfires have begun spreading near the country’s under-construction new capital, prompting project authorities to urge the disaster mitigation agency to carry out cloud-seeding and water-bombing operations, officials said.
Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain haze in six provinces hit the hardest by forest and land fires in Borneo and Sumatra islands, which so far have reached 73,311ha.
Wildfires have been raging in a number of spots on Borneo Island, but the eastern part, where the new capital, Nusantara, is located, has been relatively safe in the weeks since the fires began to worsen with the onset of the dry season in July.
Now, however, fires have spread to some areas around the capital, prompting the request for action from the authority overseeing the project, said Agus Riyanto, director for emergency response at the disaster mitigation agency.
Disaster response and mitigation teams in the South-East Asian archipelago are facing the most challenging dry season in a decade, exacerbated by a “super El Nino” phenomenon.
The biggest of the fires in the new capital territory, Agus said, was at a forest park at Bukit Suharto, or Suharto Hill, named after the autocratic former president, where around 300ha have burned.
Bukit Suharto is around 50km from the city centre, which houses a number of major projects built over the last few years for the new capital.
In total, fires had burned around 400ha surrounding Nusantara as of Sept 2.
Indonesia has 53 aircraft currently carrying out water bombing and seeding activities.
Japan has also sent over aircraft and personnel to assist, authorities said.
The disaster mitigation agency said a helicopter would be sent from neighbouring South Kalimantan to carry out water bombing around Nusantara.
Clouds in the area were still insufficient for seeding, but the disaster agency would do so when it was possible, Agus said. — Reuters
