TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that it was had prepared Rp385 billion to set up a task force to tackle forest fire and haze.
"We’re going to use the funds until October 2015,” said Tri Budiarto, Deputy to BNPB Head for Emergency Measures after a coordinating meeting in Jakarta on Saturday.
The task force, he added would extinguish fire with weather modification technique, water bombing tecnique and inland fire extinguishment technique.
Tri went on to say that the task force would also be equipped with 12 helicopters, 2 air tractors, 2 Casa 212 planes and a land operation team.
In the meantime, Secretary General of the Environment and Forestry Ministry Bambang Hendrayono said that in the long term, regional governments would be urged to accelerate the construction of canal blockings, which have been proven effective to reduce the number of hot spots in peat lands.
"The Ministry has prepared Rp150 billion for five provinces to build the canals," he added.
URSULA FLORENE | SYAIPUL BAKHORI (JAMBI) | SUPRIYANTHO KHAFID (MATARAM) | DIANANTA P. SUMEDI (BANJARMASIN)
