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Peatland News

Title: Palembang ruffled by fire, LRT malfunction ahead of Asian Games
Date: 14-Aug-2018
Category: Indonesia-Peatland,Haze and Fire
Source/Author: The Jakarta Post
Description: Too caught up in efforts to prevent forest and land fires, authorities in Palembang, South Sumatra, were taken by surprise when a peatland fire was spotted near the Jakabaring athletes village just a week before the official opening of the 18th Asian Games.

Too caught up in efforts to prevent forest and land fires, authorities in Palembang, South Sumatra, were taken by surprise when a peatland fire was spotted near the Jakabaring athletes village just a week before the official opening of the 18th Asian Games.

“The piece of land is abandoned and dry and prone to fire. It is located 500 to 700 meters from the athletes village,” the South Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency’s (BPPD) head of emergency measures, Ansori, said 
on Monday. 

He said the fire was first spotted on Friday evening but could not be extinguished until Saturday morning because its location was difficult to access. A lack of firefighting personnel and the fact that the blaze was reported late in the evening also contributed to the delay, he said.

Three water bombing helicopters from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and members of the Air and Land Task Force were deployed to extinguish the fire. 

The local police have also questioned a man suspected of starting the blaze.

“Lesson learned. Right now, we are keeping our eyes and ears wide open by stationing additional field personnel at the Jakabaring Sport City [JSC] compound. We are opening a command post as well to ensure better supervision [of the area],” Ansori said.

The Land and Forest Control Task Force has placed 600 personnel on standby in Palembang as well as 55 villages across Ogal Ilir, Banyuasi and Ogan Komering Ilir regencies, which are prone to peatland fires. 

“Those regions are dominated by peatland. Therefore, our officers must continuously spray the areas with water as a prevention [measure]. Dry conditions could trigger fires and the smoke could reach the city,” 
Ansori added.

Previously, Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto stated that the TNI, in cooperation with the police and all other related stakeholders, would be prepared to prevent fires and haze in the region, especially during the upcoming Asian Games. 

Commander Hadi added that authorities had been implementing three methods to keep fires at bay. The first involved weather modification technology. He said the current cyclonic weather in the Philippines could be helpful in creating artificial downpours by using such technology. The second strategy is to continuously monitor peatland areas and keep them wet. The third is by deploying field officers to the 55 fire-prone villages to directly monitor the areas. 

“We predicted that these obstacles would emerge long before the [Asian Games]. Therefore, we will do everything we can to prevent the [fires],” he said. 

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said the National Police had also deployed a team to assist the Land and Forest Control Task Force. 

“We are going to be firm with whoever [is caught] burning fields or forests and bring them to justice,” he said.

Separately, the Transportation Ministry vowed on Monday to start investigating a series of malfunctions that have plagued its first light rapid transit (LRT) system.

The LRT in Palembang is expected to run smoothly as thousands of athletes, officials and visitors begin to arrive this week for the highly anticipated quadrennial event.

Officials were forced to acknowledge a series of “shortcomings” with the LRT, seen as key to avoiding congestion.

A short circuit knocked out power to a portion of the transit system on Sunday, halting trains and forcing passengers to disembark between two stations.

Just days earlier, passengers had to endure long delays due to signals interference, which caused the temporary suspension of services, local media reported.

“The government will immediately evaluate the whole operation of the South Sumatra LRT,” said Zulfikri, director general of railways at the transportation ministry, as reported by AFP.

“[We] hope this evaluation will provide a solution that will improve the overall operation of the LRT,” he added.

Jakarta and Palembang will host about 11,000 athletes and 5,000 officials from 45 Asian countries for the Games.



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