Summary of major revisions made to emergency plan of action
The impact of haze has reduced by the arrival of heavy rains, and the number of hotspots has diminished.
The duration of the delivery of basic medical services will be reassessed after one month of implementation, while the health education intervention will proceed for the three months period.
Due to the modification of the timeframe for medical services, the total number of beneficiaries has been reevaluated and it is now estimated that PMI will reach 83,700 people (instead of the 106,140 people as stated in the original plan of action) through its health services (medical services and health education).
The intervention now focuses on the province of South Kalimantan instead of the province of Riau.
The coverage has been extended from 9 districts to 30 districts due to the increasing needs in remote areas.
All chapters and provinces have been instructed by their leadership not to implement any activity from 3 to 9 December due to potential interference with the local elections in Indonesia on 10 December, causing delays in field implementation.
Situation analysis: Description of the disaster
Forest and land fires in some of the islands of Borneo (Kalimantan) and Sumatra resulted in a very dense haze. The Centre for Health Crisis of Ministry of Health reported that the forest fire which caused this haze started in Riau Province and later spread into seven provinces, four in Kalimantan (West, East, South and Central Kalimantan) and three in Sumatra Island (Jambi, Riau and South Sumatera). Since September 2015, the haze has also affected neighboring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The intensification of this disaster is the consequence of El Niño in the region, with severe droughts and significant delay of the rainy season, therefore preventing the effect of the rain on forest fires.
Hot weather conditions and thick smoke combined with the initial lack of rain due to El Niño made the air pollutant index (API) level even worse while people, especially children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with pre-existing respiratory problems became more vulnerable to upper respiratory tract infection (URI), eye irritation, pneumonia, asthma, skin irritation, which resulted into a few deaths. In addition, visibility went for weeks down to between 20 to 500 meters in most of the affected area, which caused delays or even cancellation of a number of flights in various provinces. This disaster also hampered daily activities and causes schools, universities and some offices to close down. The death toll recorded so far in Sumatera and Kalimantan is eleven people.
The highest API, 1,950 µgram/m3 , was recorded on 21 October 2015 in Central Kalimantan Province (normal 0 to 50 µgram/m3 ), while in other provinces the reported levels were:
- Riau: : 596 µgram/m3
- Jambi : 407 µgram/m3
- South Sumatera : 300 µgram/m3 on 29 September
- West Kalimantan : 784 µgram/m3 on 28 September
- South Kalimantan : 171.37 µgram/m3 on 28 September
During the first half of November 2015, a few heavy rains swept some of the provinces affected by forest fires, particularly those located close to the equator. By mid-November, rains have extinguished the majority of forest and land fires throughout Indonesia. There remain some risks of reoccurring peat fires or peat fires to re-intensify if the impact of El Nino continues. Haze season is then expected to come as early as April in 2016. The API recorded on 3 November 2015 by the Centre of Health Management Crisis (MoH) is reflecting a significant improvement:
- Riau : 52.75 µgram/m3 (moderate)
- Jambi : 21.72 µgram/m3 (severe)
- South Sumatra : 91.13 µgram/m3 (moderate)
- West Kalimantan : no updated data
- South Kalimantan : 33.26 µgram/m3 (mild)
- Central Kalimantan : 46.79 µgram/m3 (severe)
- East Kalimantan : no updated data
Despite the improvement of the situation, many people living in these affected areas continue to suffer from the effects of the previous long exposure to haze. For example, data from health services in West Kalimantan – a province affected every year by forest fires and subsequent haze – shows that the number of respiratory infections remains high even during periods with no forest fire.
The IFRC, on behalf of the PMI, would like to thank all partners for the generous contribution to the replenishment of this DREF. These include Netherlands Red Cross/ Netherlands Government (SEF) and Canadian Red Cross Society/ Canadian Government (DFATD).