Jakarta Legislator Urges Caution over Haze Information to Avoid Public Panic
Jakarta (ANTARA) – Jakarta City Council member Hardiyanto Kenneth has urged officials to communicate information about smoke from forest and land fires to Jakarta residents carefully, to avoid causing public panic.
“The government needs to distinguish between satellite detection of smoke dispersal in the atmosphere and measurements of pollutant concentrations at the surface,” Hardiyanto Kenneth said in Jakarta on Saturday.
He said the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had issued a report listing Jakarta as an area where smoke from forest and land fires had been detected, based on satellite imagery monitored on Friday (16 October).
He hoped the BMKG report would serve as an impetus for the Jakarta administration to strengthen its air-quality management system, improve preparedness and build better co-ordination with the central government and other affected regions.
“Clean air is a basic need for the public,” he said.
“The Jakarta administration must ensure that every decision is based on accurate data, while continuing to uphold the principles of caution and public protection,” he said.
He also called on the Jakarta administration to prepare mitigation procedures for schools, hospitals, community health centres, public transport and other public-service facilities.
He said that if air quality deteriorated significantly, facility managers should have guidance on regulating outdoor activities, managing ventilation and using air purifiers where available and appropriate.
He said schools, for example, should adjust sports and other outdoor activities in line with official air-quality information. Healthcare facilities, meanwhile, should strengthen public education on preventing exposure and ensure people know what health services are available.
“But this must be accompanied by a clear division of responsibilities, success indicators and effective budget use,” he said.
He said that, as a Jakarta City Council member, he would push for oversight of the regional government’s efforts to address air quality and mitigate the effects of forest and land fires.
“Success cannot be measured simply by the number of activities carried out, but by how far the policies protect the public and reduce the risk of exposure to pollutants,” he said.
BMKG previously explained that satellite monitoring shows the presence or spread of smoke in the atmosphere, but does not directly indicate the concentration of pollutants at the surface that people breathe.
According to the monitoring, smoke over Java was moving south-eastwards and then westwards.
Further monitoring is therefore needed to determine whether smoke concentrations at the surface in Jakarta have actually increased, or whether the smoke is merely passing through the upper atmospheric layers.