Of 281 hotspots detected across Sumatra Island, 256 were found in Riau province, Slamet Riyadi, the head of the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG)s data and information section, said.
The data was based on the recording on Wednesday at 7 am local time, he added.
Of the 256 hotspots in Riau, 94 were detected in Bengkalis district, 32 in Meranti, 26 in Indragiri Hilir, 34 in Pelalawan, 52 in Siak, 10 in Rokan Hilir, 7 in Dumai, and one in Kampar.
He predicted that the number of hotspots in Riau will still be high until one week to come because of lack of rains. Hotspots in forests, plantations and peatland fires, which came early on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands this year, have caused the Indonesian government to intensify law enforcement to deal with the problem.
"Usually haze occurs in May or June. But, this year, the haze has happened in January and February in Riau and West Kalimantan," the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo stated in Jakarta, recently.
(KR-FZR/A014/F001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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