REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU - Cost of disaster relief operation caused by forest fires in 21,900 hectares of land in Riau has reached 267 billion IDR. According to National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the fund consists of 103 billion IDR in middle of 2013 and 164 billion per March 2013 

"The total fund needed is still growing as we still use it for next four months to pay Sikorsky helicopters and aircraft for weather modification technology," Head of Data Information and Public Relation in BNPB, Sutopo Purwonugroho said on Friday.

Forest fires' fund in 2014 is larger that last year and has reached half of BNPB budget (300 billion IDR). BNPB has disbursed fund since Riau governor declared an emergency status on February 26. 

According to Sutopo, majority of funds were used to drop water bombs and weather modification technology. Fuel price is expensive for rented Hercules aircraft, Sikorsky helicopters and Camox. Other major expenditure came from logistic and equipment of joint operation involving more than 2,800 people.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika