D

espite the thickening haze that has blanketed their regions over the past few weeks, local authorities in West Sumatra and Riau said on Friday that they had yet to declare an emergency status for their respective jurisdictions.

West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) prevention division head Rumainur said the decision to delay such a declaration had been taken because the thickness of the haze continued to fluctuate in the province and flights at local airports still continued to run as usual.

'€œThe haze thickens in the morning but eventually subsides in the afternoon and then thickens again the next morning,'€ Rumainur told The Jakarta Post.

The West Sumatra provincial administration, according to Rumainur, will not rush to declare an emergency status because such a declaration would damage economic activity and tourism in the region.

'€œWe will have a number of national events here including the Tour de Singkarak, to be held in October,'€ he said, referring to the annual international cycling race.

Local authorities in many parts of the country, particularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, have been struggling to put out massive land and forest fires over the past few months caused by this year'€™s prolonged dry season.

In Pekanbaru, acting Riau Governor Arsyadjuliandi '€œAndi'€ Rachman also said that his province had no plans to declare an emergency status, despite pressure from various parties.

'€œUnlike what happened in 2014, the thick haze has stayed [in the province] for only a few days while severe haze only emerges for a matter of hours,'€ Andi told reporters.

The intensity of the current haze, according to Andi, will not lead to the shutdown of Pekanbaru'€™s Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport despite a series of flight delays at the airport over the past three days.

'€œWhat we need to do is convince our neighboring provinces to put in their very best efforts to extinguishing the fires that produce the haze that has been blanketing Riau,'€ he said.

In Jambi, the local police announced that they had detained nine people suspected of having caused fires in a conservation forest in Betara, West Tanjungjabung regency.

Jambi Police chief Brig. Gen. Lutfi Lubihanto said that based on the provisional investigation, the suspects had intentionally entered the conservation forest to commit illegal logging and clear land for plantation purposes.

In North Sumatra, thick haze thought to have come from neighboring provinces continues to cause a decline in the quality of air in a number of regions, including the provincial capital of Medan.

'€œWe call on people to reduce outdoor activities because the haze may cause them to suffer from ISPA [acute respiratory infection],'€ acting North Sumatra Governor T. Erry Nuradi said.