KUCHING – A short video clip posted on Twitter has captured the disturbing scene of people running for cover as ash rained down on them while they are enveloped in smoke from a forest fire in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
The person who posted the video on Monday said the forest fire had reached residential areas and the people of Banjar were “helpless”.
A subsequent news report by CNN Indonesia on the video pointed out that the air quality in Banjarmasin was feared to be deteriorating and that the clip was recorded in Lok Baintan, a settlement on the banks of Martapura River.
Meanwhile, Indonesian news programme Liputan 6 reported today that schools in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, have been ordered to close and students are to continue with their lessons remotely until October 7 due to the worsening smoke from forest fires.
The latest satellite imagery on the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) showed a large number of hotspots on the island of Borneo particularly in Southern and Central Kalimantan.
In its assessment of the regional haze situation today, ASMC said on its website that based on overnight satellite imagery, persistent hotspots continued to be detected in southern Sumatra and southeastern Kalimantan.
“Over Kalimantan, moderate hazy conditions continued to envelop many parts of its southern regions but the extent of the haze situation could not be fully ascertained due to thick cloud cover.
“Very unhealthy air quality (status) continued to be reported by stations in the South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces.”
ASMC said with dry weather forecast to persist over much of southern and central Sumatra and southern Kalimantan over the next few days, hotspot activity is likely to remain elevated over the fire-prone areas in these regions.
“Hazy conditions are expected to be widespread as well. The risk of transboundary haze occurrences remains, with the prevailing winds forecast to continue blowing from the southeast or southwest.”
In Sarawak, the air quality as of 1pm today has been generally moderate based on air pollutant index readings provided by the Environment Department. – October 5, 2023