JAKARTA: Indonesia opened temporary clinics to treat thousands of people suffering from acute respiratory illness in the haze struck regions as authorities stepped up efforts to douse forest and peatland fires threatening air quality in parts of Southeast Asia.
Authorities distributed masks to people in Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra and Kalimantan as the ash and smoke from more than 2,500 hotspots blanketed the region. More than 9,000 personnel drawn from the military, police and disaster mitigation agency with the help of 42 helicopters are involved in fighting the fire, official data showed Monday.
Stinging smoke from illegal burning to clear land for palm oil and paper plantations has prompted school closures and disrupted travel in the region, and even forced Indonesians to flee their homes. Malaysia plans to carry out cloud seeding in the worst affected regions, the Star newspaper reported Sunday. The air quality in Singapore, which slipped to unhealthy levels on Saturday, is forecast to improve, according to the National Environment Agency.
The total number of hotspots in Indonesia fell to 2,583 on Monday from 2,862 on Sunday, with the Indonesian part of the Borneo island alone accounting for almost 1,200 forest fires. The hotspots have affected 328,724 hectares of forest and farm land this year, data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency show. The agency stands ready to undertake cloud-seeding to douse the fire, it said.
The weather is forecast to remain generally dry in the southern Asean region and the prevailing winds are expected to continue blowing from the southeast or southwest. With the hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan persisting with the dry weather, hazy conditions in the region look set to remain, the Asian Specialized Meteorological Centre said in a statement.
Kuching and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Hanoi and Jakarta were among the world’s top 10 cities with the poorest air quality, according to IQAir AirVisual pollution data. The air quality index in Kuching in haze-hit Sarawak state was 241 on Monday, a level deemed very unhealthy, while it was at 130 in Kuala Lumpur, an unhealthy level for sensitive groups.
The haze blanketing western parts of Indonesia continues to cause air traffic disruptions. PT Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier, said it cancelled 12 flights on Sunday and several of its jets were either diverted or delayed as the haze lowered the visibility.
More than 300 schools in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor were closed Sunday after the Air Pollutant Index hit very unhealthy levels, the Star reported. Johor’s weekend is Friday and Saturday with Sunday being a normal work day.
Environment ministers from Malaysia and Indonesia have traded blame on the haze situation with Kuala Lumpur offering help to put out the forest fires.
Singapore’s Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources said the country has offered technical firefighting assistance to Indonesia and is prepared to deploy them if requested.