"As rains fell, the number of hotspots fell, too," Chief of BNPB Data and Information Center and Public Relations Service, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said here on Wednesday.
He made it clear that land and forest fire fighting operations have begun showing significant results.
Cloud seeding operations conducted by sowing salt to create potential clouds have produced rains, he said.
"The rains that fell in many areas were a combination of man-made and natural rains," he said.
He said rains fell in some areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"The community welcomed the rains joyfully, expressing gratitude to God, having been affected by smoke for more than two months," he said.
The rains have also resulted in the smoke thinning out and the visibility improving, he added.
Hotspots have been still detected in some areas in the two islands, he said.
"The number is not as high as before the rains fell," he said.
Based on the result of monitoring by Terra Aqua satellite, nine hotspots were detected in Sumatra and 282 hotspots in Kalimantan as of 04.00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Three of the hotspots in Sumatra were found in Lampung and six in South Sumatra, while 169 of the hotspots in Kalimantan were found in Central Kalimantan, 86 in East Kalimantan and 27 in South Kalimantan.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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