The Worst Disaster of 2015 Repeated

KOMPAS/SUCIPTO

A fire hose lays coiled atop a pile of dry twigs and brush on Friday (13/9/2019) as faint smoke rises from the peatlands along the border of Petung village and Giripurwa village in Penajam district, North Penajam Paser regency, East Kalimantan. A firefighting team comprising 210 people equipped with only 20 hoses was deployed to extinguish the fire in the regency, which has burned 100 hectares of peatlands this month.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The haze disaster caused by forest and peatland fires is nearing the worst since 2015. The thick smoke, which has reached a level dangerous to health in a number of Sumatra and Kalimantan regions has begun to affect neighboring countries.

The smoke movement analysis conducted by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) on Friday detected the smoke distribution in Riau, Riau Islands, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.