Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo highlighted the need to apply technology to prevent land and forest fires while monitoring fire-prone areas.
"Management on the field must be coordinated properly. Apply technology to monitor fire-prone areas and to update information," President Widodo stated at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Tuesday.
Widodo delivered the statement at a limited meeting themed "Anticipation of Forest and Land Fires," with attendees comprising several members of the Advanced Indonesian Cabinet, TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, National Police Chief Gen. Idham Azis, Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Doni Monardo, and other related officials.
"In the midst of our hectic activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we also have a major task of taking precautionary measures to tackle land and forest fires," the president remarked.
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Quoting data, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that 17 percent of Indonesia’s areas had experienced a dry season in April, 38 percent in May, and 27 percent in early June, while the rest would only witness the dry season in August.
"We still have a brief month-long preparation to remind this. However, as far as I remember, in January or February, we have already held a big meeting here, for which I remind you again," the president stated.
The president cited as an example of the surveillance conducted through a dashboard system that has been implemented in Riau.
"Supervision through the dashboard system. I see that the Riau Police is very good at setting an example, and I have seen it directly. The dashboard can describe the situation on the ground in detail," the president remarked.
President Jokowi requested that all fire-prone areas emulate this approach.
"I think supervision will become easier. Moreover, in addition to technological instruments, we have monitoring infrastructure up to the bottom level, village supervisory non-commissioned officers (Babinsa), the police's security and public order officers (Bhabinkamtibmas), and village heads," the president expounded.
The main objective behind this is to extinguish the fires early on.
"This is because if land and forest fires are still small, we can handle them more effectively and efficiently," the president pointed out.
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