Haze reaches hazardous levels in parts of Kalimantan

Bambang Bider and Oni Setiawan, Balikpapan/Pontianak

Choking haze from forest and ground fires in Kalimantan has not only disrupted travel, but is also responsible for respiratory problems for thousands of people.

Many people in Central Kalimantan had reported respiratory problems and eye irritation stemming from the thickening smoke, a local environmentalist said.

"Visibility is about 10 meters in some parts of Palangkaraya (the capital of Central Kalimantan) and many people are suffering from eye irritation," said Eddy Subahani, director of Central Kalimantan's Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi).

Hospitals in Palangkaraya and local community health centers continue to receive an increasing number of patients with respiratory complications.

In the West Kalimantan capital of Pointianak, nearly 3,000 people had undergone medical treatment for respiratory problems, said doctors at the city's St. Antonius hospital.

However, they denied widespread rumors that one of the sufferers had died.

The number of patients with acute respiratory infections is expected to rise as the haze shows no signs of abating in West Kalimantan and neighboring provinces.

Many other residents in Pontianak complained of severe, headaches, coughs and eye problems.

Despite the fact that the haze has reached hazardous levels, local authorities had not yet shut down schools or public offices.

"The haze has increasingly thickened, but it is not enough to disturb educational activities in schools," head of the province's information agency Yakob Mohsin was quoted by Antara as saying on Tuesday.

Yakob, however, urged students and other residents to wear face masks as much as possible.

The haze has especially thickened over the past several days, disrupting air travel to and from the province.

Motorists were using headlights during the day.

Commercial planes that did decide to operate had to delay flights for several hours to land in or take off from Supadio Airport in Pontianak. Similar delays were experienced in Malaysia's Sarawak state nearby.

In Central Kalimantan, at least one plane canceled its scheduled landing on Tuesday morning in the provincial capital of Palangkaraya as visibility there remained low at around 500 meters even after the sun rose.

Departures and arrivals had previously been banned when visibility was below 1,500 meters.

Haze also choked residents in East Kalimantan, where more than 150 hot spots were detected by the local Geophysics and Meteorology Agency (BMG).

"The thick smoke is blowing to the middle and northern parts of East Kalimantan," said BMG head Syamsul Huda based in the Balikpapan.

He said the haze had blanketed Nunukan on the northern tip of East Kalimantan, Tarakan, Tanjung Selor, Tanjung Redeb, Sangkulirang, Sangatta and Bontang.

Meanwhile in South Kalimantan, head of the province's forestry office Sony Partono said at least 68 hot spots were detected there through satellite monitoring.

The forest fires have begun to send thick smoke across the province. However, it had yet to significantly affect visibility in those areas.

Weather officials predicted the haze would linger for some time in the absence of strong wind or rain.

Experts said it was too hard to put out the fires raging throughout so many parts of Kalimantan as most were in very remote locations.

The forest fires are believed to be the work of forestry and plantation companies who are illegally clearing land for replanting.

The haze from forest fires and slash-and-burn land clearing activities in Sumatra and Kalimantan, has become an annual problem for Indonesia and its neighbors.