Forest Fires in Indonesia's South Sumatra Increasing
8/20/99
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Title: Forest Fires in Indonesia's South Sumatra Increasing
Source: Xinhua
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 20, 1999
JAKARTA (Aug. 20) XINHUA - Forest fires in Indonesia's South Sumatera
were increasing after subsiding in the past several days, Minister of
Forestry and Plantations Muslimin Nasution said.
"Only six fires were found five days ago but the number increased
yesterday (Wednesday)," he said Thursday.
The Antara News Agency Friday quoted him as saying that the fires had
flared following land clearing by local people by burning.
To deal with the matter, he said his office had already set up a team
of forest fire fighters.
The government would set aside 118 billion rupiah (17 million U.S.
dollars) from the state budget for forest fire fighting in the
regions.
Forest fires are currently burning in parts of Sumatera and
Kalimantan. The haze produced by the fires has affected the air
conditions in neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore.
In 1997, blazes on Kalimantan and Sumatera burnt out of control, and
a huge smoke cloud paralyzed the region. The 1997 fires destroyed
about 5 million hectares of forest in the country with an economic
loss of about 4 billion dollars.