Posted on 10/07/2006 8:24:08 AM PDT by djsunzi
SINGAPORE, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Visibility plunged to 50 metres in parts of Borneo island on Saturday and Singapore recorded its highest pollution reading in nearly a decade as fires in Indonesia sent acrid smoke across Southeast Asia.
Singapore issued its first haze-related health warning this year. The daily air pollution index hit 128, the National Environment Agency said on its Web site (www.nea.gov.sg). A reading above 100 is rated unhealthy.
In Central Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo, visibility in some places had plunged to 50 metres (165 ft) governor Agustin Teras Narang told Elshinta radio.
Hundreds sought medical help for respiratory problems, with more than 500 fires counted from satellite images. Malaysia also reported unhealthy levels of smoke in many areas.
Purwasto, head of forest fire control of Indonesia's environment ministry, said experts would go to Central Kalimantan on Sunday to assess the situation.
"The worst situation is in Central Kalimantan now. Most areas in the province contain peat", he told Reuters. Peat can burn for years and produces thick smoke.
"We cannot estimate the extent of the fires now."
This year's worsening haze has rekindled memories of a choking cloud of smoke that covered large areas of Southeast Asia in 1997-98, sickening large numbers of people and costing local economies billions of dollars.
The smoky haze occurs every year during the dry season on the Indonesian island of Sumatra as well across large parts of Indonesia's portion of Borneo, prompting protests from neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
I'm currently in Singapore where the haze has really made going outdoors uncomfortable. The smoke haze is irritating the eyes and you can't jog far without getting out of breath. Every year, the haze blankets malaysia and/or singapore, but the indonesian authorities are unwilling to do anything to put out the fires. Good to see the president of indonesia get his priorities right by doing his foreign policy publicity stunts while letting his country burn and the region suffocate. There's also a growing scandal involving a mud flood.. google "indonesia mud" or something like that..
Lefties: "Darn the American Seante for rejecting the Kyoto treaty 100 to nothing!"
But wait . . . what would Kyoto have done about smoke in Asia???????
I thought it was the fugly Americans who were polluting this planet into oblivion.
What gives?
We gotta try harder and burn more stuff...and quick!
Is this as bad in Malaysia as well? I am on my way to KL on monday : )
Interesting! And .. the Kyoto treaty was designed to punish America's pocket book for massively polluting the atmosphere. While, we do the most and spend the most to keep our atmosphere cleaner THAN ANY OTHER INDUSTRIALIZED NATION.
I guess we know now what a scam that was. And .. this country which is stifled with pollution .. THEY HAD TO PAY NOTHING.
Oviously I live in Singapore and I find it interesting that they call it 'haze' when it's pure smoke. I can smell it in my kids' hair.
It's typical Singaporean governmental official to give a great grin to the camera and say everything is fine, while me and my wife and my kids are coughing our asses off.
<< I live in Singapore ... >>
Hey, my wife and I do too, around a third of the year. Keep a home in Serangoon.
Any FReeper activity there to speak of? Maybe a few of us could do the occasional Tony Roma's Ribs, a char que teow, a Sizzler or a mutabak, lah?
Best ones - Brian
I don't think there is much the singapore govt. can do. Singapore is held hostage by indonesia's supply of water/oil/human resources etc.. and singapore is often targeted as a scapegoat.. look at how indonesia blames the fires on malaysian companies when malaysia complained last year about the haze.. only thing IMO that would work is sanctions on indonesia until they stop the darned fires.
Can you put out peat fires? I read a book set in the Pacific Northwest that mentioned a local peat fire that had taken years to burn itself out; granted, the book talked about a fire in maybe the 30s, and maybe there are methods now that weren't available then. But it said in a peat fire, the ground itself is burning (or smoldering I guess).
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