Indonesia’s fires shift east to Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua as floods hit 7,615 households in North Sumatra

INDONESIA: Forest and land fires are still burning across 1,410 hectares in five Indonesian provinces, while floods in North Sumatra have affected thousands of households, the country’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said, as disaster response operations continue on two fronts.

According to New Straits Times (NST), BNPB’s acting head of disaster data, information, and communication, Berton Panjaitan, said South Papua had the largest area under firefighting operations, at 502 hectares, as of Oct 30, 7 a.m. local time. Central Sulawesi followed with 295 hectares, then Southeast Sulawesi with 257 hectares, Maluku with 182 hectares and East Kalimantan with 174 hectares.

“The pattern has changed considerably,” Berton said in a video briefing. “Previously, fires were reported in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, and today, we are seeing fires in East Kalimantan, Central and Southeast Sulawesi, Maluku and South Papua.”

A total of 58 aircraft remain deployed, including 23 for patrol, surveillance, and weather modification, and 35 helicopters for water-bombing. About 23,900 kg of cloud-seeding materials such as salt and dry ice have been used over Kalimantan and South Sumatra.

Unhealthy air quality was recorded in Sendawar, in West Kutai district, and at three monitoring stations in Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital in East Kalimantan.

Floods in North Sumatra

Floods in North Sumatra have affected 7,615 households, Berton said.

According to NST, seven provinces, Aceh, Lampung, Bengkulu, Riau, West Sumatra, South Sumatra and North Sumatra, are on heightened alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall.

Moderate to heavy rain is also forecast across parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Java, Bali, Maluku, North Maluku, West and East Nusa Tenggara and Papua.

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