Haze endangers Palangkaraya residents

Haze endangers Palangkaraya residents

Agencies, Jakarta

Air pollution levels in Central Kalimantan were off the scale and
people were in grave danger of dying painful deaths from carbon
monoxide (CO) poisoning, officials said Tuesday.

Palangkaaraya Air Laboratorium head Andrie Manurung said
levels of carbon monoxide and dust particles in the air had
exceeded test parameters in Palangkaraya.

The concentration of dust particles in the air (PM10) was
already 1,525 microgram/M3 on Tuesday, far in excess of the
normal level of 50 microgram/M3.

The concentration of (C0) reached 19,66 milligram/M3 or the
danger category.

Andrie said CO, if inhaled, would enter the hemoglobin (red
cells) and destroy nervous systems and eyesight.

"It could lead to heart rhythm disorder, dizzy, paralysis,
comma, breath obstruction, and death. Therefore I urge the
citizens to stay indoors as much as possible," Andrie was quoted
by Antara as saying.

The city by day resembled a city at night due to the thick
haze that forced citizens to seal their homes and motorists to
wear masks to avoid the choking smoke.

"Visibility is below 50 metres today and it seems like there's
no life here. We are praying for heavy rain to clear the thick
smoke," airport official Jamaluddin Hasibuan told Reuters by
telephone from Palangkaraya, 875 kilometers northeast of Jakarta.

Many people are reportedly suffering from eye and respiratory
problems from the dust particles from forest and ground fires.

The sick are clogging health centers in the city, including
Dr. Doris Sylvanus General Hospital.

"Respiratory problems are mounting and children are the ones
suffering the most. We have also had an outbreak of diarrhea
because of the lack of clean water," said Dr. Eka.

Central Kalimantan has been hardest hit by the haze and the
main airport in Palangkaraya has been closed since the fourth
week of August.

Several schools are also closed and government officials have
decided not to turn up to work.

Activities at shopping centers, however, remain normal
although a bit sluggish.

In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, the sky
was clear early in the morning with visibility of around three
kilometers, but soon lessened to two kilometers as smoke blew in
from burning forests in Ketapang district and Central Kalimantan.

"We have had rains in several areas of Pontianak last night
that have helped clear the sky and we are expecting more rain as
satellite images show a large concentration of clouds over our
province," an employee at the Pontianak meteorology office told
AFP.

In Muara Teweh, a district town in Central Kalimantan,
visibility was slightly better at 500 meters by 11:00 a.m.
because of rains the previous day, Achmad Yani of the local
meteorology office said.

In Sampit, another district town of Central Kalimantan,
visibility was around 800 meters at noon, said Musa Hanaya of the
local meteorology office.

Haze has also begun to cover parts of Sumatra, curtailing
visibility to 400 meters in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau
province, for the first few hours after dawn.

Illegal loggers and farmers are blamed for the fires which
they light to clear their fields for the next planting season.

Smoke from the fires has also affected neighboring Singapore
and Malaysia although it is not as bad as in 1997 and 1998, when
dense haze cost regional economies US$9 billion in damage to
farming, transport and tourism.