Experts warn thousands could die from haze
Experts warn thousands could die from haze
HONG KONG, China (Agencies): Thousands of people will be killed by the smog blanketing southeast Asia, experts warned here yesterday, adding some regions could face famine as crops were devastated and livestock choked to death.
"It's an absolute disaster in health terms," said Hong Kong University pollution expert Prof. Anthony Hedley, likening the effect of the haze to all the tens of millions of people in the stricken region taking up smoking.
"It's not stretching imagination too far to say if you immerse people in this tremendous pollution ... then I think there is nothing more predictable than a substantial number of premature deaths.
"There are going to be tens of thousands of illnesses and I don't think we've seen the half of it," he said
The haze, believed to have been caused by forest fires in Indonesia, has smothered vast areas of the region and has already caused some deaths and left thousands ill.
Hedley, head of the university's community medicine unit, said health effects of the haze could include chronic bronchitis, emphysema, diseases of blood vessels in the head, and lung and cardiovascular disease.
Up to 20 percent of all deaths in the region could now be caused by the haze, he said, citing several international studies.
The old and the young were particularly vulnerable, he said.
Other specialists said the haze was blocking sunlight, starving plants and reducing temperatures amid a drought, a combination of factors which could devastate food supplies.
"It will destroy the ecology of the region," said Fang Ming, senior climatology program manager at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
"Insects, animals and vegetation alike will be largely destroyed," he said.
Senior environmental protection department scientific officer Yeung Mo-man said the lack of sunlight could have a disastrous effect on crops.
"If these people could just leave the region, it would be good," he said.
"But that is not possible. They should just stay in their houses and wait. The priority must be to put the fires out."
Protest
In a related development, activists and opposition party members in Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur demonstrated in front of the prime minister's office yesterday, protesting "the lack of firm and effective action" by the government in combating the choking smog shrouding the region.
Led by Tian Chua of the human rights group Voice of the Malaysian People, the half a dozen protesters representing various groups held up banners at the gates of the hilltop office as police officers stood by.
They handed over a petition of 1,800 signatures from the Malaysian Environmental Protection Society, Consumer Association and others, demanding urgent action.
"We are surprised that the fires in Indonesia raging at such magnitude were not detected at an early stage," read a memorandum to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who left for Latin America on Wednesday.
"We should have paid greater attention to the situation and helped Indonesia to control or put off the fire as soon as it happened," the memorandum said.
On Tuesday, Malaysia sent 1,210 firefighters by ship to help control forest fires in Indonesia, where at least two people have died because of the pollution.
The forest fires have resulted in a haze which has enshrouded the whole of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei and parts of the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
Environment officials said that with forest fires still raging in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, and on Sumatra, across the Straits of Malacca from Malay Peninsular, the chances of the smog easing up soon was remote.
In Sarawak, medical officials there say about 15,000 people have sought outpatient treatment for breathing problems.
The coalition that demonstrated yesterday, which included some medical doctors, said 8,170 people had been admitted to hospitals throughout Malaysia with respiratory difficulties.
Reports from Singapore said yesterday an ambulance company was offering free service for victims of the thick smoke haze blanketing the city-state.
The company, Tele-Medical services, said it would provide a free ride to the hospital and attending doctor for those suffering from heart and respiratory problems as a result of the pollution caused by the forest fires.
Singapore authorities began broadcasting round-the-clock pollution index readings on the nation's main television network yesterday.