RI than 150 Water-Bombs Dropped on Sumatra's Forest Fires

Pekanbaru, Riau (Antara) - More than 150 water-bombs had been dropped on forest fires raging in several Sumatran districts and towns over the past one week, according to a spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). "Five days ago, there were 70 water-bombs, yesterday there were about 37 more, and today 50 water-bombs are expected to be dropped," Agus Wibowo of BNPB, said here on Thursday. The water bombing operation was focused on the worst fire-affected districts such as Pelalawan District and Perawang in Siak District, he said. "Four helicopters have been deployed to drop the water-bombs in the two areas. Two helicopters are from BNPB and two others from PT Sinar Mas and PT RAPP (Riau Andalan Pulp an Paper)," he said. The two companies in fact have respectively sent two helicopters to help extinguish the forest fires, he added. The Indonesian Air Force also deployed two helicopters in the operation. In addition to the water-bombing, the Indonesian Technology Assessment and Application Agency (BPPT) has been carrying out cloud seeding to make artificial rains by using climate modification technology. "Over the past five days, ten tons of salt has been used in the cloud seeding efforts," he said. The could seeding efforts were conducted by using a Hercules plane and a Cassa plane over Pelalawan District and Perarawang Sub District in Siak District, he added. (*)