Have you ever heard about forest fires and natural disasters in Indonesia? The country is covered by a large tropical rainforest. Some of them already transitioned to peat forests.
Most peat forests in Indonesia become highly potential to have a forest fire natural disaster compared to common tropical forests. Moreover, the dry season leads to terrible forest fires and natural disasters in Indonesia. It brings sadness among Indonesian and the largest ethnic groups in Indonesia.
Most efforts to prevent forest fire natural disasters in Indonesia already work on by locals and the government. Even so, the disaster seems hard to handle.
Are you wondering what kind of forest fires and natural disasters in Indonesia? Here we have some of them on the list below. Check them out!
1. Forest fire natural disaster in 1982 East Kalimantan
A forest fire natural disaster in 1982 happened in East Kalimantan lived by the most isolated tribes in Indonesia. The disaster burned about 3.2 million hectares of forest in East Kalimantan. Most of them burned the tropical rain forest in about 2.7 million hectares area.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) was the one who calculated the loss of the forest fire natural disaster in 1982. It reportedly reaches about US$9 billion. This huge amount recorded the highest loss in Indonesia at that time.
The damage of the forest fire natural disaster in 1982 create a terrible fog. It spreads wider not only in East Kalimantan but also in Malaysia and Singapore. The fog not only makes human hard to breathe but also disturbs land and air transportation.
2. Forest fire natural disaster in 1997 Sumatra and Kalimantan
Forest fire natural disaster in 1997 happened in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Based on the data of BNPB, the region wasn’t mentioned since the fire forest happened in most forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
The forest fire started when local farmers cut down the trees to make a larger farming land. They burned the trees to make it faster. Most of them are typical lowlands, which are different from some highest cities in Indonesia.
Unfortunately, the fire couldn’t be handled as the weather become dryer during the dry season. That bring the terrible forest fire natural disaster in 1997. Locals reported that they have already burned thousands of trees every year. But things becomes different that time.
The terrible forest fire natural disaster in 1997 happened from around October to November. During December the fire started to burn slowly and even stop because of the rain.
3. Forest fire natural disaster in 1998 Sumatra and Kalimantan
After the terrible forest fire natural disaster in 1997 ended, it continued in 1998 as the dry season comes. The forest fire happened again and struck every forest in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
The El Nino phenomenon make it worst, and the loss became wider not only for the environment around the forest but also in most countries in the South East Asia.
The terrible forest fire natural disasters in 1997 and 1998 bring the highest loss at that time. The loss reached about US$4.47 billion. It caused the emission to explode at a higher rate, which brings danger to humans and other creatures living around them.
The forest fire natural disaster in 1997 and 1998 not only affect Indonesia but also other countries. The fog was spreading among countries in South East Asia, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, and Vietnam.
4. Forest fire natural disaster in 2006 Riau of North Sumatra
A forest fire natural disaster in 2006 happened in Riau of North Sumatra. The fire burned more than 3 million hectares area of the forest. The slow handling becomes the blames for it, which makes the fire spread rapidly.
Other than that, the El Nino phenomenon supports the dry season that affects Indonesia at that time. It makes the forest fire natural disaster in 2006 becomes worst and hard to handle.
The loss because of the forest fire natural disaster in 2006 couldn’t be avoided. Moreover, the effect of the fog also spread wider rapidly through Singapore and some areas in Malaysia.
5. Forest fire natural disaster in 2007 Nganjuk of East Java
Similar to Riau and some areas in Kalimantan that have a larger forest, East Java also has it. The difference of it is that Kalimantan has a peat forest and East Java has not.
Forest fire natural disaster is a rare thing on Java Island where the land is mostly already crowded by the largest shopping malls in Indonesia. A forest fire natural disaster in 2007 happened in Nganjuk of East Java. It burns almost 65 hectares of land and it burns the area from July to December.
6. Forest fire natural disaster in 2015
In 2015, a forest fire natural disaster happened again. At that time, forest fire was happening in 29 provinces in Indonesia. Of all over provinces in Indonesia, only three provinces were not causing forest fire troubles.
It was reported that Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Riau are three provinces that were not causing forest fires in 2015. Riau surprisingly survives even though the province has a potential forest fire.
Meanwhile, Jakarta and Yogyakarta barely have a forest, which makes sense that they are have not a forest fire. The loss because of the forest fire in 2015 is around US$16.1 billion.
7. Forest fire natural disaster in 2019 Kalimantan
A forest fire natural disaster in 2019 happened around November. It happened in most of Kalimantan, which has the largest peat forest. Most of the burning forests struck peat forests. Luckily, the island is different from some other biggest cities in Indonesia which are crowded by population.
The dry season that longer than usual bring the worst thing to the forest fire. Peat forests rapidly turn into flames as the wind strengthens during the dry season.
A forest fire natural disaster in 2019 burned almost 70% of the peat forest. It caused higher emissions, which contributed to the global warming effect rapidly.
8. Forest fire natural disaster in 2023 Kalimantan
From January to May 2023, it was reported that the forest fire natural disaster in 2023 already burn more than 28 thousand hectares of the forest in Kalimantan. The amount is predicted to be raising as the dry season not reaching the peak season yet.
Kalimantan Island becomes the most priority to the anticipation of the fire forest this year. That makes sense since the island has the largest rainforest and peat forest.
All of those forest fires and natural disasters in Indonesia mostly happen every year. Even so, the 1997 to 1998 suspects are the worst ones. Mostly, the dry season and El Nino phenomenon make the forest easily burn into flame.
