Pekanbaru: The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has been struggling to tackle hot spots in several coastal areas of Riau Province, but its efforts have been hampered by the lack of high-speed vessels, the agency's officer said.
The Meranti Islands Disaster Mitigation Agency's (BPBD's) head, Edy Afrizal, told Antara here on Monday that sufficient number of high-speed vessels was needed to transport personnel, logistics, and equipment to the hot spots in isles.
The lack of those vessels has hampered the agency to transport the joint-taskforce personnel, comprising those from the military, police, and BPBD, to the hot spots-affected areas on several islands of Riau Province's coastal areas, he stated.
A similar problem was found by the agency's officers in their endeavor to extinguish hot spots in the districts of Bengkalis and Meranti Islands, though the number of personnel there might have been enough, Afrizal noted.
The challenge lies on the fact that more number of vessels are needed to transport over a hundred members of the military, police, and BPBD, as well as volunteers from local community and companies to the disaster zones around the Meranti area, including Rangsang Island.
To enable the logistics to reach the affected areas in Rangsang Island, they should rent local fishermen's boats. One speed boat of the Meranti Disaster Mitigation Agency will not be able to meet the safety standards for inter-islands' mitigation mission.
If the small boat is forcibly used for reaching several hot spots-affected areas within the Meranti Islands District, it is feared to threaten the safety of the taskforce personnel, he added.
The Meranti Islands District areas have been affected by the bush and forest fires since early this month. Several hot spots were detected in sago plantations owned by the island's local residents, but they could have been extinguished.
New hot spots were then detected in Sokop Village of Rangsang Island, which could only be reached through the sea. Therefore, the availability of high-speed vessels was so important that he hoped that the BNPB in Jakarta could provide the needed vessels.
"We have enough number of personnel but equipment and vessels are not available. Please help us, BNPB! We had actually sent our request for getting this vessel, but it is not yet responded," he remarked.
Meanwhile, the Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported that the smog caused by the bush and forest fires in Meranti Islands District had blanketed the city of Pekanbaru along the day on Sunday (March 3).
However, the haze did not disrupt flight schedules at the Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport, because the visibility at the airport remained at around 8 thousand meters.
According to the BMKG, the number of hot spots in Meranti Islands District has significantly declined, from 31 on March 1, to only one on Monday. (Antara)
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