PEKANBARU - The Riau Provincial Government has received an additional 15 tons of salt to be sown in the local sky in the Weather Modification Operation (OMC) to make artificial rain to minimize forest and land fires.
Head of the Emergency Sector of the Regional Disaster Management and Fire Service (BPBD Damkar) Riau Jim Gafur said that initially his party received 8.5 tons of seed salt assistance from the National Disaster Management Agency of the Republic of Indonesia.
"In the initial phase, the seed salt assistance from BNPB was 8.5 tons. However, we have just received 15 tons of assistance," he said as reported by ANTARA, Monday, February 23.
The current OMC activities are still being carried out in the coastal areas of Riau. The last OMC activity on Sunday (22/2) in the Siak Regency area with 1 ton of salt sown in one sortie activity.
"OMC activities are still focused on the coastal areas of Riau which according to information from the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics, the rainfall has decreased. Then in this area there are also a lot of peatlands.
Meanwhile, until now, it has been recorded that there have been 11 regencies/cities in Riau that have experienced forest fires at the beginning of 2027. From the 11 areas, the total area of Karhutla is 1,041.74 hectares (Ha).
The 11 areas that have experienced Karhutla are Bengkalis Regency, Meranti Islands, Siak, Kampar, Pelalawan, Indragiri Hulu (Inhu), Indragiri Hilir (Inhil), Kuantan Singingi (Kuansing), Rokan Hilir (Rohil), Dumai City and Pekanbaru.
"Until now, 11 districts in Riau have been found to have Karhutla. The total area of Karhutla is 1,041.74 Ha. From this area, 1,849 hot spots were also found with a total number of 128 fire points," he said.
However, he continued, the current forest fires in several areas were reported to have been successfully handled by the joint team on location. In addition, the rain that has occurred is quite evenly distributed in Riau in the last few days.
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