Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Humans remained the number one cause of disasters in Indonesia in 2006, according to the government's environmental report released Wednesday.
The fifth edition of the report named forest fires, the mudflow in East Java and flooding in several regions as the country's worst disasters.
"In 2006, we more frequently recorded disasters than in previous years," State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar told reporters after the launch of the 279-page report.
The ministry issued the first environmental report in 2002. The latest report also noted that air and water pollution had worsened in Indonesia.
Deputy minister for technical facility development and capacity building Isa Karmisa Ardiputra said haze from forest fires had blanketed Sumatra and Kalimantan as well as neighboring countries and worsened air quality in the effected areas.
Indonesia exported thick haze to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Thailand during peak forest fires in August, the report says.
It also says the smoke shrouds about 524 million hectares of land on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands and raises particulate matter pollution to an alarming level.
"In Jambi, the unhealthy air hit 20 days from September to October," it says.
The report also quotes reports from Singapore's major publisher Singapore Press Holding as saying that traffic accidents rose 170,000 cases from 60,000 cases in Singapore due to thick smoke haze from Indonesia last year.
The suffocating smoke from the forest fires has been blamed on local farmers and companies clearing land for new plantations by using illegal slash-and-burn methods during the dry season.
The second worst disaster, according to the report, is the hot mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java. The report says the disaster has affected residents socially, economically and environmentally.
In May 2006 a gas drilling well owned by PT Lapindo Brantas hit a underground mud volcano. Since then, mud has spewed from the site, leaving more than 9,000 people homeless. Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie's family has a controlling stake in Lapindo.
The report said the levels of metal pollutants in the mud – including zinc, copper, lead and cadmium exceeded tolerable limits. The ministry said the metals, along with fenol pollutants, had reached the Porong River in October, raising concerns about local wildlife and fish stocks.
Meanwhile, floods hit almost every provinces in the country last year, caused by poor land use management by city administrations and widespread deforestation. The report recorded there 44 big floods and 31 landslides last year.