Indonesia sends more people, aircraft to battle forest fires

Indonesia's president travelled to the area hardest hit by forest fires, as neighbouring countries urged his government to do more to tackle the blazes that have spread a thick, noxious haze around Southeast Asia.

President Joko Widodo flew to Riau province, where nearly 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) have burned, to encourage authorities to get the haze under control.

Widodo told reporters Tuesday in the provincial capital, Pekanbaru, that about 5,600 additional military personnel have been deployed to help the 9,000 people currently fighting the fires, which have razed more than 328,700 hectares (812,000 acres) of land nationwide.

He said at least 52 helicopters have dropped more than 263 million liters (69.5 million gallons) of water and 164 tons of salt for cloud seeding as part of the firefighting efforts in six provinces that have declared states of emergency.

"All efforts have been made, with more personnel on the ground to battle the fires," Widodo said, "But the most important measure is prevention before fires occur."