About 3,000 residents of Palembang, the capital of Indonesia’s South Sumatra province, gathered for a collective Muslim prayer for rain amid large-scale forest and peat fires. Thick smoke shrouded roads, buildings and public facilities, reducing visibility so severely that drivers had to turn on their headlights during the day.
Prayer amid drought
Participants held a special Islamic prayer for rain — Salat al-Istisqa — in the courtyard of the South Sumatra governor’s office. Governor Herman Deru said before the prayer that the authorities had taken all possible measures and were cooperating with relevant agencies. According to him, the prayer is intended to complement efforts to extinguish the fires and combat the drought.
As Euronews reports, the latest satellite data from Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment recorded the highest number of hotspots in the country in South Sumatra — 1,429. West Kalimantan recorded 1,226, while Central Kalimantan recorded 811.
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Aviation operations and investigation
According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry, fires destroyed nearly 940 square kilometres of territory in July alone, including more than 20 square kilometres in South Sumatra. According to the National Disaster Management Agency, the fires are being intensified by the prolonged dry season and a more intense El Niño climate pattern, while smoke from them has spread to Malaysia and Brunei.
Indonesia is intensifying weather-modification operations: 30 aircraft have been deployed over Kalimantan for cloud seeding and water drops, while 22 helicopters are operating over Sumatra. Police have arrested 72 people suspected of causing some of the fires. Another four companies are under investigation on suspicion of using fire for cheap land clearing.
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