Jambi Declares State of Emergency over Forest Fires

Jambi's Administration has declared a state of forest and field fire emergencies, after Jambi's Acting Governor Irman, signed a decree on Thursday, August 28, 2015.

The signing by the government comes after calls were made for the Acting Governor by the Minister of Environments and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya, as well from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

"Yes, Jambi's Governor have signed the decree, and we will alert BNPB as soon as possible," said the Head of Jambi's Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Arief Munandar in Jambi on Thursday.

It is known that three areas across the Province of Jambi - that is, the Muarojambi Regency, East Tanjung Jabung as well as West Tanjung Jabung Regencies - have declared a state of emergency prior to the signing of the decree, along with the regency of Batanghari, that declared a state of emergency for forest fires as well as drought.

Jambi's BPBD, continued Arief, is still coordinating with the BNPB, because the transport of the decree to Jakarta is hindered by the thick smoke that has brought flight schedules in Jambi's Sultan Thaha Airport, to shambles.

Once officially declared, BNPB will begin to dispatch firefighting equipments, as well as funnel some emergency budget for the Administration to help fight the fires, which nearly brings Jambi to a halt due to the poor visibility.

"BNPB will help, by aerial spotting and water-bombing. We are ready to create artificial rain over hotspots as well," said Arief, who said that access to the emergency budget would help Jambi face its' fires, which has often raged for days because the Administration cannot dispatch its' equipments due to budget constraints, as well as human resources.

Joint personnels made out of members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), the National Police (Polri) as well as volunteers have worked around the clock to extinguish the fires, but the widespread report suggest that they might be struggling due to the large numbers of hotspots reported.

Furthermore, access to some areas - including a number of isolated spots in East Tanjung Jabung - as well as the lack of a sustainable water source to put out the flames, have slowed down their efforts.

The smoke across Jambi have thickened, causing visibility to drop and thus disrupting flights in and out of the city. Air quality around the provincial capital, have also dramatically worsened. "Jambi's air pollution index have reached 102, which is categorised as unhealthy," said the Head of Jambi's Environments Agency (BPLHD) Rosmeli.