House Asks Government To Tackle Haze Victims Speedily

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - House Commission VIII on social affairs has asked the government to take a speed action in handling haze victims as the haze disaster is spreading in the country.

"The government should handle the victims in the haze affected regions. It should take a policy to ascertain that all victims are handled," Commission VIII Chairman Saleh Pertaonan Daulay said here on Sunday.

 He said he was visiting a number of districts in the southern part of Tapanuli of North Sumatra, about 300 km from Riau, 650 km from Jambi and 820 km from South Sumatra. The tree provinces were  worst affected by haze that came from forest and land fires.

"The forest and fire triggered haze should become the main priority of the government because it has caused serious and extensive impacts which continue to spread in Sumatra and Kalimantan," he aid.

In the meantime,the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said that the haze emanating from the forest fires that have hit the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, has affected Jakarta.

"Parts of Jakarta has been shrouded by thin haze coming from Sumatra and Kalimantan," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the BNPB, said here Sunday.

The haze has also affected Banten, West Java, parts of East Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, he added.

A monitoring by the Himawari satellite on Sunday (Oct. 25) at 8:30 a.m. local time, showed that the smoke has spread to Jakarta and other provinces.

On Saturday (Oct. 24), the Himawari satellite detected thin haze over Java Sea and parts of Jakarta.

A joint task force is still doing its utmost to extinguish forest, peatland and plantation fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan particularly.

"Aerial operations by using water bombings are being carried out continuously, and so land operations," he noted.

So far, more than 43 million people on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan have been exposed to the haze.

Earlier, the haze from Sumatra and Kalimantan has affected neighboring countries mainly Singapore, and parts of Malaysia and Thailand. (WDY)