Deforestation Blamed for Worsening Water Supply in Sumatra
Jakarta. Sumatra’s watersheds — ridges of land that separate waters flowing to different rivers and keep those waters pristine — have lost the largest amount of forest cover in the world over the course of 15 years, drastically reducing the quality of its water supply, World Research Institute's Global Forest Watch Water revealed on Tuesday (30/08).
More than 22 percent of Sumatra's forest cover, or 8 million hectares — an area almost as large as the entire province of North Sumatra — was destroyed from 2000 to 2014.
source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/deforestation-blamed-worsening-water-supply-sumatra/
Haze disrupts flights in Dumai, Riau
Flights at Pinang Kampai Airport in Dumai, Riau were disrupted by haze from forest fires in several areas in the province over the weekend.
The head of the airport, Catur Hargowo, said the haze limited visibility to only about 1-kilometer. Until noon on Sunday, the thickness of the haze fluctuated and visibility improved to only 2-km.
source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/28/haze-disrupts-flights-in-dumai-riau.html
Concerns grow in Pontianak as number of hot spots increases
The number of hot spots in West Kalimantan has increased rapidly in the past two weeks, from a dozen to over 100, raising concerns over air pollution and the disruption of flights at the province’s Supadio Airport.
Haze resulting from forest fires has covered Dumai, Riau, too.
source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/19/concerns-grow-pontianak-number-hot-spots-increases.html
East Flores Deep Sea Earthquake a `Rare` Phenomenon
TEMPO.CO, Bandung - The earthquake that struck East Flores on the early hours of Wednesday, August 24, 2016, is considered a deep-focus earthquake - a rarely encountered phenomenon as the epicentre of the earthquake is located at a depth of 537 kilometres.
"There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered to this day about what causes the phenomenon and its' impact," said the Head of Earthquake and Tsunami Mitigation for the Meterology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Daryono on Wednesday, August 24, 2016
source: http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/08/24/206798453/East-Flores-Deep-Sea-Earthquake-a-Rare-Phenomenon
Saving the Remaining Sumatran Tigers
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is one of the 13 countries in the world that have tigers living within their borders.
India has the largest number of tigers, currently estimated to be be 2,226 in numbers, followed by Russia (433), Indonesia (371), Malaysia (250), Nepal (198), Thailand (189), Bangladesh (106) and Bhutan (103), according to data from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
source: http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/08/18/206796888/Saving-the-Remaining-Sumatran-Tigers
