Foreign Countries Offer Help to Put Out Indonesian Forest Fires
9 October 2015 14:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Some foreign countries have offered assistance to extinguish forest and plantation fires that have led to haze shrouding Sumatra, Kalimantan Islands, Malaysia, and Singapore, stated President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
"Yesterday, we asked for help, and Singapore is assisting. It is still being processed (by) Russia, Malaysia, and Japan. We hope they can speed up the efforts as tackling peatland fires is different from regular forest fires," the president noted on Thursday.
Singapore is sending three aircraft to help put out the wildfires on Thursday, and assistance from Russia is also coming, according to Jokowi.
"The aircraft have a water carrying capacity of 12 to 15 tons and not just only 2 to 3 tons," he remarked.
The head of state is paying working visits to the provinces of Riau, Jambi, and West Sumatra, which are severely hit by forest fires.
He said a decision was taken during yesterday`s meeting to deploy more personnel to put out the fires.
ANTARA
