TNI Commander Guarantees Haze-Free Asian Games

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

A Super Puma helicopter belonging to APP Sinar Mas drops water bombs to extinguish a forest fire in Kayu Labu village, Pedamaran Timur district, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra on Wednesday, July 18, 2018. The government is cooperating with private parties to extinguish the fires so as to prevent the smoke from spreading. This is necessary because the presence of smoke threatens the success of the 2018 Asian Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.

PALEMBANG, KOMPAS – Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto has promised that the 2018 Asian Games, co-hosted by Jakarta and South Sumatra capital Palembang, would be free of haze from forest and peatland fires. Early prevention measures have been carried out continuously, including extra firefighting personnel, water bombing and applying weather modification technology to water local peatlands.

Preventing hotspots in peatlands is key. “Fire must not be allowed to spread. Hot peatlands must be watered,” Hadi said on Tuesday (24/7/2018) after leading a coordination meeting at the South Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

Before arriving in Palembang, Hadi visited a hotspot in Tulung Selapan, Ogan Komering Ilir regency,. Ogan Komering Ilir is the regency closest to Palembang.

Hotspots were still found in peatlands in South Sumatra through Tuesday. Fire can burst from hotspots at any time and cause haze if water was not dumped on them immediately.

Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) head Tri Handoko Seto said that a weather modification operation would be launched in South Sumatra on Monday (30/7).

The operation is to include twice-daily cloud seeding, with one seeding involving 1 ton of salt. August is the peak of the dry season in the region, so rainclouds are rare. “However, rainclouds still form,” said Tri.

Communication network calibration deputy Widada Sulistya at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said that rainclouds might still form, although they were scarce. Tropical cyclones to the north of the equator might still induce the formation of rainclouds. However, there would not be as many rainclouds as in May-June.

Hadi said that he spotted rainclouds on his flight from Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport to Palembang’s Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport.

He cited a BMKG report that said the potential for forest fires would remain high over the next week. Therefore, anticipatory measures were necessary. Canaling was hoped to be effective in wetting forests and peatlands.

A joint team comprising military personnel and police officers as well as members of the Manggala Agni firefighting brigade, the BPBD and other agencies is to be deployed to 55 villages near fire-prone forests in South Sumatra, including 33 villages near fire-prone forests that could produce haze that might reach Palembang. Central government reinforcements will also be deployed if necessary.

Additional equipment, including for communications and transportation, are to be made available to enhance firefighting efforts. The BPPT will also deploy drones to monitor fire-prone forests.

As for personnel, South Sumatra forest and land fires mitigation task force commander Col. (Inf.) Iman Budiman said around 650 personnel had been deployed for overland reconnaissance missions, while the joint firefighting team comprised 7,500 members.

South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin said that international athletes were expected to arrive in Palembang from Aug. 1, ahead of the Asian Games opening ceremony on Aug. 18. Anticipatory measures were being undertaken continuously to ensure that all operations proceeded smoothly.

Jambi on alert

Late last week, the Jambi administration declared a province-wide haze emergency to anticipate the increasing threat of forest and peatland fires amid the dry season.

Jambi BPBD head Bachyuni Deliansyah said the Jambi governor had signed the decree declaring the haze emergency late last week.

The haze emergency decree was issued amid the increasing threat of forest fires. Three of Jambi’s most fire-prone regencies, Merangin, Sarolangun and Muaro Jambi, had earlier issued a local emergency.

Forest and peatland fires head Donny Osmond at the Jambi Forestry Agency said the emergency status would enable a more integrated approach to firefighting efforts, including inter-provincial cooperation.

In 2015, severe forest fires broke out in Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra, and caused haze in Jambi. Coordination among firefighting efforts in fire-prone, border areas would increase effectiveness so as to prevent haze from disrupting the Asian Games events in Palembang.

(RAM/ITA)