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Haze thickens in Pekanbaru as hot spots drastically increase
Under thick smoke: Students wear masks at school as smoke clouds from land and forest fires continue to cover Pekanbaru, Riau
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span class="caption">Under thick smoke: Students wear masks at school as smoke clouds from land and forest fires continue to cover Pekanbaru, Riau. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pekanbaru, Riau, said that Terra and Aqua satellites have detected 186 hot spots spread throughout eight regencies and municipalities across the province, on Thursday morning. (JP/Rizal Harahap)
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pekanbaru, Riau, has warned the country that air pollution will get worse as of Thursday morning. Terra and Aqua satellites detected 186 hot spots spread across eight regencies and municipalities throughout the province. On the previous day, Riau had only 40 hot spots spread throughout seven regencies and municipalities.
The agency reported that Pelalawan had 60 hot spots, making it the regency with the highest number of hot spots. Indragiri Hulu ranked second with 54 hot spots, followed by Indragiri Hilir (45), Siak (11), Dumai (six), Bengkalis (five), Kampar (thee) and Kuantan Singingi (two).
On Wednesday, BMKG Pekanbaru spotted one hot spot in Rokan Hilir regency.
'The hot spot disappeared on Thursday morning. However, five new hot spots have suddenly turned up in Kampar and Kuantan Singingi,' the agency said.
'As many as 140 of the total hot spots detected are fire spots with a trust level of above 70 percent. This indicates that there have been land fires in those areas,' BMKG Pekanbaru head Sugarin said.
He said 47 of the total hot spots were found in Indragiri Hulu, followed by Pelalawan (40), Indragiri Hilir (33), Siak (nine), Dumai (four), Bengkalis (three), and Kampar and Kuantan, which had two fire spots each.
'As of Thursday morning, the total number of hot spots in Sumatra has reached 326, with Riau as the province with the highest number of hot spots. Jambi ranks second with 51 hot spots, followed by South Sumatra (42), Lampung (eight), Bengkulu (six), North Sumatra (three) and West Sumatra (two),' said Sugarin.
While it had neither hot spots nor land or forest fires, Sugarin said that the air quality in Pekanbaru had continued to deteriorate, blanketed by smoke from land and forest fires from its neighboring regencies. Its air quality was still considered to be unhealthy.
'The visibility in Pekanbaru has also deteriorated, reaching only around 800 meters on Thursday morning. Dumai City is also blanketed with smoke, although its visibility still reaches five kilometers,' said Sugarin. (ebf)(++++)
