(thejakartapost.com/Edna Tarigan)

The government is currently conducting its biggest operation yet to tackle the haze emergency, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on Friday.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho from the BNPB said that the operation involved masses of equipment, aircraft and personnel and was well supported by other countries. "This is the biggest haze emergency operation conducted by the Indonesian government," he told thejakartapost.com on Friday.

A total of 32 helicopters and airplanes have been assigned to extinguishing the fires, six units of which are from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. The figure includes 21 helicopters, seven fixed-wing water bombers and four planes for making artificial rain.

BNPB chief Willem Rampangilei said on Tuesday that the government had disbursed Rp 500 billion in disaster funds to manage the haze across six provinces over the past two months.

He told Antara news agency that South Sumatra had received the biggest portion of the funds as most hotspots were in that province.

Sutopo said that on Thursday the planes carried out water bombing in six provinces: South Sumatra, Jambi, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and Riau. The aircraft mainly targeted South Sumatra, which received 334 showers.

Land operations also took place, involving 22,146 joint personnel from the Indonesian Military (TNI), police, local administration officials and volunteers spread across six provinces.

Law enforcement, health services and the latest information was also provided to help mend the impacts of the fires.

"It is not easy to extinguish the massive hotspots, especially in the peatlands that are most likely to reignite after burning under the surface. We'€™ve also noticed new land fires which make the hotspots go up and down," he said.

Satellite data showed on Friday that of the 769 hotspots in Sumatra, there were:

537 in South Sumatra

97 in Jambi

64 in Bangka Belitung

38 in Lampung

22 in Riau

7 hotspots in Bengkulu

3 in North Sumatra, and

1 in Riau Islands

Of the 159 hotspots in Kalimantan, there were:

134 in Central Kalimantan

19 in West Kalimantan

5 in South Kalimantan, and

1 in East Kalimantan.

Yellow haze also covered Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan on Friday. Based on thejakartapost.com's observation in the field, the yellow smog arrived in the morning and got thicker in the afternoon. Local people said that the yellow haze came from new land fires within and outside Palangkaraya.

All flights to and from Tjilik Riwut airport in Palangkaraya were cancelled on Friday due to the heavy smog. (rin)(++++)

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