Govt to provide compensation for haze victims

The Jakarta Post, Mon, October 05 2015,


The government is planning to provide compensation for haze victims in six provinces across Sumatra, a minister has said.

Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said on Monday that Indonesian people who were unable to work as a result of the haze currently blanketing areas of Sumatra and Kalimantan would receive cash assistance of Rp 900,000 (US$62.30) per person.

"They will receive a daily compensation payment of Rp 10,000 for 90 days. So, each person will get Rp 900,000. Now, we are still calculating the exact number of victims," said Khofifah as quoted by tempo.co on Monday.

The minister said the government considered that 25 percent, or around 1.2 million haze victims were on a low income because they were family welfare card (KKS) holders.

She further said the compensation budget would be taken from the State Treasurer’s budget department. “We are still discussing the matter with the National Development Planning Agency [Bappenas] and the Finance Ministry,” she added.

Khofifah also said that the government had continued to monitor the handling of the fires to ensure that logistical supports could reach everyone affected.

“We want to make sure that logistical support for people remains adequate for safety,” she said.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said that based on NASA satellite data, at least 1,820 hot spots were identified across 13 regions as of Sunday.

BNPB head of data information and public relations, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said the most severe fires were in ​​Sumatra, among its 1,563 hot spots. South Sumatra had the highest number of hot spots, with 1,340. Jambi recorded 131 hot spots, Lampung 57, Bangka Belitung 22, Riau nine and just one in Riau Islands.

Similarly, at least 257 hot spots in Kalimantan had not yet been extinguished as of Monday. Central Kalimantan recorded 108 hot spots, followed by South Kalimantan with 71, West Kalimantan with 51 and East Kalimantan with 27.

Limited visibility has disrupted flight schedules in several areas. The visibility in Jambi and Pekanbaru has reduced to only 500 meters while in Sintang, South Kalimantan, it is only 400 meters. In Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, haze has reduced visibility to only around 100 meters.

Sutopo said the BNPB had dispatched seven helicopters and water bombing aircraft, as well as one Casa aircraft, to extinguish fires. In addition, a joint police-military team comprising 1,594 personnel had been deployed to South Sumatra to reinforce the existing fire task force.

"Now there is a total 3,694 personnel deployed to extinguish the fires," he said.



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