Indonesia steps up efforts to fight forest fires

The Indonesian government has dispatched 7,200 personnel, 3 planes and 3 helicopters to fight forest fires from air and land, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman from the national disaster management agency, said here Friday.

A total of 21.7 million tons of waters have been dropped in water bombings at Riau province from where smoke of the forest fires has reached Singapore, the spokesman said.

As many as 40 tons of salt (NaCl) has also been spread to create artificial rain, he added.

"The efforts to stop forest and agriculture fires are continuously taken," Sutopo said in a statement.

Haze from forest fires in Sumatra Island has again spread to neighboring Singapore with the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reaching 215 Friday afternoon, the highest of this year, according to Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA).

A reading above 100 means that the air quality is "unhealthy," and a reading above 200 is "very unhealthy." It is considered "hazardous" if the reading hits 300.

The visibility has also worsened especially in the northern and western parts of the country.'

Source : XINHUA