SHARP INCREASE IN NUMBER OF S KALIMANTAN HOT SPOTS

Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Aug 26 (ANTARA) - The number of hot spots in South Kalimantan has reached 376, up from 270 over the past two weeks, an official said.

"Most of the hotspots are not caused by forest fires but by fires in plantations or rice fields as a result of the current dry season in the province," the chief of South Kalimantan's forestry office, Suhardi Atmoredjo, said here on Wednesday.

Suhardi said the total area of fires due to the dry season is predicted to reach 230 hectares scattered in several districts and cities in South Kalimantan.

In order to anticipate the condition, he said, the official of South Kalimantan province had alerted all Task Forces for Disaster Mitigation (Satlak PB) to be ready when the land fires got worse.

Suhardi also suggested all resident not to use fire to open new plantation areas.

"A fire in a plantation area can have a negative impact on the environment. The doer will be charged for violating the Environment Law and South Kalimantan's Regional Regulation about the Prevention and Control of Land Fires," he said.

On the other hand, Chief of National Unity and People's Protection ( Kesbang Limnas) of South Kalimantan province, Fakhruddin, said the province will have an institution dealing with land fires named Regional Institution for Disaster Management.

The institution, he said, will have special task to tackle common natural disasters happened in the province such as flood and land fires.

If the institution is officially operated, he added, it will help Satlak PB's task in handling disaster in South Kalimantan.