REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANABARU -- Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa handed over a compensation worth Rp15 million to the families of each of those who died from the haze in Riau Province Saturday.

The handing over of the compensation was carried out at the office of the Public Works and Public Housing Service of Riau.

There were four families who received the compensation.

On the occasion the minister stressed the importance of understanding the dangers of haze that came from forest and land fires.

All those who died in Riau passed away not because of direct impact from the haze but from certain diseases which worsened due to the haze.

Therefore, Minister Parawansa called on the local government to publicize the hazardous level of the air pollutant index (ISPU) when the haze became increasingly thick.

"The hazardous level of the ISPU needs to be publicized because each region has different ISPU levels," she said.

Some 529,527 people have suffered from upper respiratory tract infections due to the forest- and land fire-triggered haze that has plagued the country for the past several months, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

"The haze plaguing the country has caused upper respiratory tract infections in 529,527 people," Head of Data Information and Public Relations of the BNPB Sutopo Purwo Nugroho noted Friday morning.

The victims were from Sumatra and Kalimantan. There were 60,225 from Central Kalimantan, 79,888 from Riau, 129,229 from Jambi, and 115,484 from South Sumatra, in addition to 46,672 from West Kalimantan, and 98,029 from South Kalimantan.

"The haze victims totaled 529,527 people," he reported.

The data is based on the report received by the BNPB on October 29, 2016, Sutopo remarked.

However, there is a possibility that the actual count could be higher, he affirmed.

This is because some people ailing from diseases did not visit the doctors at the Community Health Care Centers (Puskesma) or the hospitals.

"They perhaps consulted the doctors independently, and were, therefore, not registered," he pointed out.

The government has been making efforts to overcome the haze problem caused by forest and plantation fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The government had also built several "rumah singgah," or shelter houses, at the evacuation sites for the residents exposed to haze, he stated.

The shelter houses are fully equipped with facilities, such as air purifiers and others, which were offered to haze victims for free.

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