VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The number of hotspots in the provinces of Riau, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan have declined on Sunday, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

A spokesman of the BNPB Agus Wibowo said in a statement here on Sunday, the number of hotspots in Riau has declined to 29, from 126  detected on Saturday (Aug 10).

The agency has also detected a declining number of hotspots in South Kalimantan from 41 to 14, East Kalimantan from 23 to 20, and in North Kalimantan from 29 to 23.

However, in some other provinces, the number of hotspots has increased, such as in West Kalimantan where it increased 27 to 605 and in Central Kalimantan where it increased four to 163.

Jambi has recorded an increase in the number of hotspots to three, South Sumatra to 19, and Bangka Belitung increased 10 to 14.

BNPB said, haze has shrouded Sumatra and Kalimantan regions, though it was not descending over Malaysia and Singapore.

Pekanbaru was still blanketed by haze with visibility of five kilometers, while the visibility in Jambi (cloudy) is 9 km, Palembang (cloudy) 10 km, Pontianak (smoky) 5 km, Pangkalan Bun (cloudy) 9 km, Palangkaraya (smoky) 5 km, Sanggu-Buntok (smoky) 4 km, Banjarmasin (cloudy) 10 km, and Tanjung Harapan - Tanjung Selor (smoky) 5 km.

The air quality based on the concentration of particulate matter (PM10) showed unhealthy air quality in Pekanbaru with PM10 concentration 166, Pontianak with 253 PM10 or very unhealthy, Palangkaraya 217 (very unhealthy), and Sampit 26 (healthy)

On Sunday, 9,072 personnel of the joint task force that comprise of the BNPB, the military, police, regional mitigation agency (BPBD), and local residents have continued to put out the fire in six provinces namely Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan.