TEMPO.CO, Palangka Raya - The Central Kalimantan provincial administration declared a state of emergency today, June 30, over land and forest fires. The status was issued given the findings of over 700 hotspots and wildfires in some areas.

Governor Sugianto Sabran said the status was also announced since two districts, namely North Barito and West Kotawaringin, had initially declared an emergency alert.

“We are now doing precautionary measures, conducting dissemination, and mitigating the wildfires. Because Central Kalimantan people are dealing with many challenges, namely Covid-19 pandemic, fires, and floods,” Sugianto said.

The acting head of the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency Darliansyah, meanwhile, said that the emergency status will kick off from July 1 to September 28, 2020, so that his side started to develop synergies in an effort to prevent the disaster and educate the public massively.

“Two regencies have declared an emergency status, the number of hotspots has reached more than 700 areas, and wildfires occur in many regions, so the Central Kalimantan government deems it is necessary to issue the status,” Darliansyah added.

“The letter of the decision has been signed by the governor and will take effect from tomorrow until September 2020,” he confirmed.

The provincial government along with other related agencies, Darliansyah went on, had done various measures to minimize the potential land and forest fires.

Read: COVID-19 Adding to Challenge Posed by Forest Fires

KARANA WW