1st LD Writethru: Forest hotspots rise in Indonesia

The number of forest hotspots in Indonesia increased to 13 on Friday after it significantly decreased to five on Thursday, official said.

The Terra and Aqua satellite from NASA detected 10 hotspots in Borneo Island, one in Sumatra Island and two in Java Island at 16:00 Jakarta time (0900GMT), the official of the meteorology and geophysics agency told Xinhua by phone.

The forest and agriculture fires have occurred five weeks ago and the satellite detected 151 hotspots across the country on Sunday, the official said.

Indonesia has dispatched aircrafts, soldiers, police and firefighters to battle against the fires, Yosiah Palindungan, official at the national disaster management and mitigation agency told Xinhua.

However, many factors such as too much hotspots and lacking of water supply have hampered efforts to curb the fires, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of national disaster management agency told Xinhua.

Last year, the Indonesia government launched the biggest ever battle against massive forest fires occurring across the country that killed 17 people, involving over 22,000 soldiers and dozens of aircrafts with international aids.

The fires have sent thick haze to neighboring ASEAN countries, triggering serious health problems and a huge financial loss.

Indonesia is home to the world's largest palm oil industry and the traditional annual slash-and-burn methods are the main cause of the forest fires. Endit