Indonesia’s President traveled to area hardest hit by forest fires, as neighboring countries urged his government to do more to tackle blazes that have spre a thick, xious haze around Souast Asia. President Joko Widodo flew to Riau province, where nearly 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) have burned, to encour authorities to get haze under control. Widodo told reporters Tuesday in provincial capital, Pekanbaru, that about 5,600 ditional military personnel have been deployed to help 9,000 people currently fighting fires, which have razed more than 328,700 hectares (812,000 acres) of land nationwide. He said at least 52 helicopters have dropped more than 263 million liters (69.5 million gallons) of water and 164 tons of salt for cloud seeding as part of firefighting efforts in six provinces that have declared states of emergency. provinces have a combined population of more than 23 million.

“All efforts have been me, with more personnel on ground to battle fires. But most important measure is prevention before fires occur. We have all resources, but all of m were t activated properly” Widodo said

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President Widodo regrets slow response

Widodo regretted that local authorities have been slow in detecting and responding to fires before y start to grow. He urged people to refrain from setting fires on peatlands or in forests that could trigger wildfires and ordered authorities take firm action against arsonists, both company employees, and villrs. Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said Tuesday ministry is investigating 370 plantation companies suspected of intentionally setting fires for new planting, including 103 in Riau province. She said authorities have sealed off at least 49 companies in past week for investigation, including a Singaporean-based company and four firms affiliated with a Malaysian palm oil corporate group.

Police have arrested 185 people suspected of starting forest fires. y could be prosecuted under an environmental protection law that allows up to 10 years in prison for setting fires to clear land, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said. Nearly every year, Indonesian forest fires spre health-damaging haze across country and into neighboring Malaysia and Singapore. fires are often started by smallholders and plantation owners who set land on fire as a cheap way of clearing it for new planting. Many areas of Indonesia are prone to rapid burning because of draining of swampy peatland forests for pulpwood and palm oil plantations.

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2,153 hotspots detected

Poor visibility caused by smoke caused flight delays at several airports in Indonesia and Malaysia and prompted authorities to shut schools in some parts of both countries. Indonesian Disaster Mitigation ncy detected 2,153 hotspots across country on Monday, more than half of which were in six provinces of Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan. provinces have a combined population of more than 23 million. It said 99% of hotspots were caused by deliberately set fires.

Indonesia declared a moratorium on new development of peatlands after particularly disastrous dry season fires in 2015 which burned 2.6 million hectares (10,000 square miles) of land and spre haze across Indonesia, Singapore, sourn Thailand, and Malaysia. World Bank estimated fires cost Indonesia $16 billion, and a Harvard and Columbia study estimated haze hastened 100,000 deaths in region.

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