Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri told local administrations during a meeting of the National Coordinating Board for Natural Disasters and Refugees held Tuesday 6 March in Jakarta to be more responsive to natural disasters and not just wait for the central government to provide humanitarian aid. Since January last year, Indonesia has been struck by 33 floods, 25 landslides, 14 earthquakes, 12 fires and 6 storms, which have claimed a total of 692 lives and caused financial losses estimated at Rp1.5 trillion (US$158m).

2. ACEH

Muchlisin Arief, the head of the weather sattelite imaging department of the Indonesian Aerospace Agency (LAPAN), said only one hot spot was detected in Riau in Sumatra and 38 in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, on Monday but that fires might still be raging in both regions.

"That doesn't mean that the fires are gone, they just could not be detected," Arief told AFP.

14 March 2000

Situation

1. Ever since the start of the dry season at the end of February 2000, forest fires have been rapidly spreading out of control in Sumatra and West Kalimantan in Indonesia. By 5 March 2000 more than 780 hot spots had been located over Sumatra, according the Meteorological Service Singapore. Reportedly, most of the fires were triggered by illegal burning of plantations and forests for land clearance.

2. The most affected area is Riau province

The Antara news agency reported on Monday that in West Kalimantan province environmental protection authorities were concerned the effect the haze would have on the health of local residents.

The fires, deliberately caused by farmers and plantation owners to clear new land for crops, has caused haze that

The firefighters were sent under a plan drawn up after health-threatening smoke from Indonesian fires blanketed large swathes of southeast Asia in 1997, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said in a statement.

The ASEAN statement gave no further detail of the action being taken while the United Nations Environment Program