JAKARTA: Air pollution in parts of Indonesia’s Central and West Kalimantan provinces on the island of Borneo have reached hazardous levels, according to readings from IQAir, a Swiss platform that monitors air quality data.
On Monday (Aug 31), Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan was the most polluted city in the archipelago, with an air quality index (AQI) of 780 as of noon that day.
Meanwhile, Pontianak – located in West Kalimantan – was the second-most polluted city with an AQI reading of 593. An AQI reading of above 300 is considered hazardous.
Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono said last week that more than 5 million people on Borneo and Sumatra islands were directly exposed to the risks of a putrid haze coming off dozens of fires across the vast archipelago.
He had added that some 13,500 people have also been treated for respiratory infections in July and August.
In an effort to combat the forest fires, the Indonesian military as well as other government agencies have begun restoring ecosystems and optimising water sources to “rehabilitate” areas affected by the forest and land fires in East and North Kalimantan, national news agency Antara reported.
“This month, we are restoring vegetation by planting trees in burned and degraded areas, including along riverbanks,” VI/Mulawarman Regional Military Commander Krido Pramono had said on Saturday.
The VI/Mulawarman military command is in active service in East and North Kalimantan as well as Nusantara.
Krido had said that the tree-planting activities will be carried out gradually in order to protect the environment and reduce the risk of fires returning during the dry season.
Besides reforestation, Krido added that the government and relevant agencies are optimising water infrastructure to improve water availability.
“Drilled wells that we have built also provide clean water and can support forest and land fire prevention and firefighting,” he was quoted as saying by Antara.
Meanwhile, a Japan Self-Defense Force transport ship departed from a port in Hiroshima prefecture on Sunday and is expected to reach Indonesia within one to two weeks to aid in firefighting operations.
About 600 personnel – as well as three CH-47 helicopters – are expected to participate in the Self-Defense Forces’ first overseas firefighting mission, which is being carried out under a cooperation agreement signed by the two countries’ defence ministries last May, Tempo reported.
Japan’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Friday had said that Tokyo “will do everything possible to help prevent further expansion of the damage”.
In 2015, then-Japanese ambassador to Indonesia Yasuaki Tanizaki said that his country had given 100 bottles of a fire extinguisher liquid substance to Indonesia as part of firefighting efforts to tackle blazes in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Experts from the Japan International Cooperation Agency were also reportedly sent by the Japanese government to assist in the forest fire extinguishing efforts then.