HAZE BEGINS SHROUDING SOME PARTS OF SUMATRA

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 20 (ANTARA) - Even though some parts of the country are still showered by rains, haze has begun blanketing some parts of Sumatra on Wednesday, particularly Riau and Riau Islands provinces. Yet no significant disturbance has been recorded.          Only Dumai airport was temporarily closed  on Wednesday while other transportation systems such land and shipping still proceeded normally.          "We have not yet issued any policy to postpone or cancel the departure of passenger ships because the haze has not yet posed a threat to shipping," Tanjung Balai Karimun Seaport Administrator Gajah Rooseno said here on Wednesday.          However, Pinang Kampai airport of Riau province, was temporarily closed as visibility was only about 500 meters. Head of Pinang Kampai airport Ackwin said visibility on the air was only about 500 meters. The visibility was beyond the normal conditions so that the airport was temporarily closed for reasons of flight safety.          "We have postponed one flight to Jakarta this morning," Ackwin said.          Haze which originates from land fires in several parts of Riau province was relatively thick but it did not seriously disturb visibility while some motorists have begun to turn on their headlights.          Motorist Tajuddin (31) said he was surprised to see the haze that began shrouding the city as he left his home Tuesday morning.  "I heard the news from the media that land fires have been taking place since several days ago," he said.          Compared with that last year, this year's haze seemed to happen rarely as Tuesday's haze was the first to happen in October this year.  "This is the first haze to happen in Pekanbaru this October," he said.          Airport Duty Manager Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Pekanbaru, Ibnu Hasan, said that haze began shrouding Pekanbaru Tuesday morning. "But so far the haze has not yet significantly disturbed visibility," Hasan said.          "This morning two airplanes, namely Garuda and Lion Air departed from the airport at about 7.0 am," he said.          He said that at present the visibility was still about 10,000 meters at the airport which was safe for flights.          The thick haze of forest and bush fires also blanketed the sky of Batam Island in Riau Islands Province.  The smoke also blanketed the sky above the areas near Batam, such as that of the islands of Rempang and Galang.          The haze was likely caused by the forest fires, and slash and burns on certain parts of the Sumatra Island, Agus Salim Lacuda said.  Despite the cloudy sky as a result of the haze, flights were not yet hampered due to clear enough visibility, he said.          "The pilots' visibility from Wednesday morning to mid day remains at six thousand meters. So this is still good for airplanes," said Lacuda, head of the Hang Nadim International Airport's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics office.          However, in Dumai, visibility at the airport was disturbed on Wednesday. As a result of thick haze shrouding the area, authorities at 7 a.m temporarily closed Pinang Kampai airport of Riau province, on Wednesday.           Head of Pinang Kampai airport Ackwin said visibility on the air was only about 500 meters. The visibility was beyond the normal conditions so that the airport was temporarily closed for reasons of flight safety.           "We have postponed one flight to Jakarta this morning," Ackwin said.          He said that the weather condition was basically good but the haze was relatively thick that disturbed visibility. "We have also confirmation on the postponement of the departure of a helicopter from Pekanbaru (Riau capital city) to Dumai until the visibility could reach over 1,000 meters," he said.          It was informed that the helicopter would depart from Pekanbaru to monitor forest fires in Dumai, Bengkalis and Rokan Hilir districts.          Images of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) satellite showed increasing number of hot spots in Dumai city, reaching 18 in different sub-districts.          On Tuesday,the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) satellite has detected 202 hot spots on Indonesia's Sumatra Island on Tuesday. The Pekanbaru-based Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency's analyst, Slamet Riyadi, said that most of the hot spots were found in South Sumatra Province with 66 hot spots.          The remaining hot spots were detected in the provinces of Jambi, Riau, Bangka Belitung, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Aceh, and Lampung with 42, 36, 24, 16, 13, 3 and 2 hot spots respectively, he said. On Monday, the imagery data released by NOAA satellite showed 358 hot spots throughout the island. But the number decreased to 202 thanks to rainfalls in some provinces, he said.          The presence of hot spots in Riau and other provinces in Sumatra Island was one of the indications of forest and bush fires,     In extinguishing the forest and bush fire, the Riau provincial government was recommended to make artificial rain to halt the spread of fire, he said.          "We are going to ask the central government (through forestry ministry) to provide us with funds for making artificial rain," he said.          However, shipping activities, haze that covered areas over Karimun waters, Riu Islands, has not yet disturbed shipping activities at domestic and international port of Tanjung Balai Karimun, on Wednesday.          "We have not yet issued any policy to postpone or cancel the departure of passenger ships because the haze has not yet posed a threat to shipping," Tanjung Balai Karimun Port Administrator Gajah Rooseno said.          Gajah Rooseno said that skippers still had enough visibility in the sea and they still could use naked eyes for a distance of about 1.5 km. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has not yet issued a special warning with regard to the haze that began to blanket certain areas in Riau province.          The haze was not coupled with bad weather such as strong winds that could trigger huge waves so that all directions of the shipping lines such as those towards Tanjungpinang and Singapore were still safe to sail.  Based on the law, skippers should pay attention to haze conditions at sea in an effort to avoid collision with other ships.          "Alertness can be carried out through various navigational symbols such as sounding the gong and trumpet so that the existence of a ship could be learned by other ships," Rooseno said.          Besides, skippers should also optimize the use of radars and grand positioning system (GPS) to monitor passing ships.          Shipping activities remained normal on Wednesday, for example, KM Ocean Indoma sailed towards Kukup, Johor, Malaysia based on schedules.     ***3*** (T.A014/a/H-NG/a014)20-10-2010 18:55