2,000 suffering from haze-related respiratory problems

2,000 suffering from haze-related respiratory problems

JAKARTA (JP): More than 2,000 residents of the East Kalimantan
cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda have suffered from respiratory
problems in the last two months due to the haze resulting from
reignited forest fires.

The head of the provincial office of the Ministry of Health,
Awang Joenani, said yesterday that 1,863 patients reported such
problems in February and 361 new patients had already been
treated in the first nine days of March.

"This (high) figure has a significant correlation with the
haze lingering in the two cities over the past two months," Awang
was quoted by Antara as saying in the province's capital
Samarinda.

He said his office had distributed 20,000 free respiratory
masks, mainly to residents of Balikpapan and Samarinda to help
reduce the possibility of infections of the respiratory trachea.

The number of people suffering from asthma and pneumonia has
also increased "significantly" over the past two months.

In February, 198 people in the two cities were treated for
worsening asthma symptoms, while 10 others have been infected
with pneumonia.

In the first nine days of March another two asthma and two
pneumonia cases were reported, he said.

Awang said his office had also urged people to reduce outdoor
activities, especially seniors and children.

"The air now is unhealthy. But if people still have to go out,
they are advised to put on masks," he said.

"Respiratory masks should be made a little wet when put on to
prevent dust particles from being inhaled directly into the
lungs," Awang advised.

The haze over the past two months is the result of fires that
have been ravaging more than 65,000 hectares of forest and brush
in East Kalimantan.

A senior Ministry of Forestry official said Wednesday that the
fires in the province had caused the country's timber industry
more than Rp 193 billion in losses.

Last year, fires destroyed more than 30,000 hectares of forest
in the same province, leaving the timber industry with losses of
more than Rp 100 billion (US$10 million).

There has so far been no total assessment of last year's
losses caused by the forest fires which ravaged some 300,000
hectares of forest and brush across Sumatra and Kalimantan.

But the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), in cooperation with
the Singapore-based Economy and Environment Program for Southeast
Asia, has calculated the fires and haze caused more than $1.3
billion in damages to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Indonesia sustained the most loses with an estimated $1
billion, $90 million of this coming from lost tourist income,
airline cancellations, and airport shutdowns.

More than 90 percent of the total losses were attributed to
short-term health costs, according to WWF. (aan)