Haze turns day into night in Sumatra island<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Thick haze from forest fires shrouded several
\ntowns in Sumatra on Friday, keeping Pekanbaru, Riau, mostly in
\nthe dark during daylight hours.<\/p>\n
By 9 a.m. most homes in the provincial capital were using
\nlights and vehicles on the roads were forced to turn on their
\nheadlights.<\/p>\n
Antara reported that rain later in the evening did not wash
\naway the dense smog, which has been declared a natural disaster
\nby the government.<\/p>\n
Volunteers and city employees handed out cotton surgical masks
\nto commuters and pedestrians to reduce the potential of
\nrespiratory ailments.<\/p>\n
According to the Haze Monitoring Center at the Meteorology and
\nGeophysics Office, the thick haze spread over Padang, West
\nSumatra, and the regencies of Bengkalis, Indragiri Hilir and
\nIndragiri Hulu in Riau.<\/p>\n
There were also reports of it reaching towns in West
\nKalimantan.<\/p>\n
Many fear a repeat of the region-wide catastrophe brought on
\nby haze from forest fires in 1997.<\/p>\n
The Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) said
\nthere were 515 hot spots in Riau, from a total of 711 on the
\nisland of Sumatra and 42 in Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Despite the assistance of emergency fire-fighting teams,
\nhundreds of hectares of national park and plantations in West
\nSumatra are up in smoke.<\/p>\n
Although the haze has darkened parts of Sumatra since last
\nweek, hospitals have yet to report any major increase in health
\nproblems, particularly patients seeking treatment for respiratory
\ndisorders.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Forestry
\nand Plantations, Soeripto, said in Pekanbaru that four forestry
\nfirms were to blame for the forest fires.<\/p>\n
Antara quoted him identifying the companies as PT Musi Mas, PT
\nInti Indosawit, PT ADEI and PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa.<\/p>\n
\"Their permits can be revoked, if necessary,\" Soeripto said.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman Wahid has promised to do everything
\npossible to prevent another ecological disaster on the scale of
\nthree years ago, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab
\nreiterated on Friday that the government would take stern
\nmeasures against errant firms.<\/p>\n
Action<\/p>\n
The haze is raising concern in neighboring Singapore and parts
\nof Malaysia.<\/p>\n
In Bangkok, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)
\nlauded on Friday Indonesia's move to punish the companies.<\/p>\n
\"The Indonesian government's intention to summon logging and
\nplantation company owners and to review their licenses is the
\nkind of tough measures needed to preempt another crisis,\" UNEP
\nAsia-Pacific regional director Nirmal Andrews said in a statement
\nas quoted by Reuters.<\/p>\n
In its statement, UNEP said the authorities detected about
\n1,200 fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan, and that the haze from the
\nfires had driven the pollution index on the islands above the 300
\nmark, a level considered unhealthy.<\/p>\n
It was also reported that the Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations (ASEAN) said on Friday it put into operation its fire
\nsuppression mobilization measures in Riau to contain the spread
\nof the fires and haze.<\/p>\n
Environment ministers of the 10-member grouping intend to hold
\na meeting addressing the haze problem in Brunei on April 4.<\/p>\n
It is the latest in a series of informal talks among the
\nministers which began in 1998, when ASEAN launched a
\ncomprehensive action plan to tackle the haze problem.<\/p>\n
The Meteorological Service Department of Singapore said its
\npollutants standards index was 41, a level where air quality is
\nwithin a good range with no adverse health effects, despite some
\nincrease recorded in previous days.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a senior Malaysian official said on Friday the
\ncountry was not yet directly affected.<\/p>\n
\"The air quality is good, we are not affected by the fires in
\nSumatra and Kalimantan,\" environment ministry director-general
\nRosnani Ibrahim told AFP. (dja\/01)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/haze-turns-day-into-night-in-sumatra-island-1447893297",
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