South Kalimantan Ready To Overcome Drought And Forestry

South Kalimantan Governor Sahbirin Noor led a forest and land fire mitigation rally (karhutla) and drought in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, Saturday (9/9/2023). (ANTARA/HO-Pemprov South Kalimantan)

BANJARBARU - The Provincial Government of South Kalimantan is ready to tackle drought and forest and land fires (karhutla) in its area during the dry season.

At the forest and land fire mitigation meeting which took place in Banjarbaru, the Governor of South Kalimantan, Sahbirin Noor, asked all regional work units to actively participate in the implementation of mitigation and mitigation of the impact of forest and land fires on drought.

He also asked regents and mayors in the South Kalimantan region to increase efforts to prevent forest and land fires in their respective areas.

"In addition to wetting the land, we also need to clean the bush which has the potential to become a source of fire," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, September 9.

Local governments also need to distribute masks to residents in areas affected by smoke fog due to forest and land fires.

In addition, the Governor conveyed the importance of ensuring that the residents' clean water needs were met during the dry season.

Meanwhile, the Head of the South Kalimantan Provincial Health Office, Diauddin, said that district and city governments had been asked to increase their vigilance to anticipate the impact of forest and land smoke on the health of residents.

"We have made a circular to the regional heads of districts and cities to be aware of the (risk) of increasing ISPA (upper respiratory tract infection)," he said.