Malaysia to help Indonesia battle choking fires
Malaysia to help Indonesia battle choking fires
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia pledged yesterday to send up to 400 firefighters to battle blazes in Indonesia which have shrouded much of Southeast Asia in thick, choking smog.
Two hundred firefighters would be sent to Kalimantan on the Indonesian half of Borneo island as soon as officials in Jakarta agree to a timetable, Malaysian Information Minister Mohamed Rahmat told a news conference.
Indonesia was expected to provide the information quickly, possibly this weekend, he added.
Another 200 firefighters would also be sent to the western island of Sumatra at a later date, Mohamed said.
Malaysia has also pledged to help Indonesia seed clouds over Kalimantan in a bid to cut the choking pollution with artificial rain.
The pollution, which has covered Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei for weeks, is caused largely by thousands of brush and forest fires in Indonesia, particularly on Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Malaysia on Friday declared a state of emergency in Sarawak state on its half of Borneo as the smog from Indonesian fires reached dangerous levels.
The normally bustling state capital of Kuching quickly turned into a ghost town as schools, businesses and offices were shut. Doctors and nurses in the town worked late into Friday night treating residents with coughs and sore throats and eyes, witnesses said.
"Certainly the figures have doubled" since Thursday, said one doctor at a private clinic.
Witnesses said Kuching pharmacies were doing brisk business again on yesterday as long lines formed to buy face masks, but they said clinics did not appear as busy.
Kuching streets remained largely deserted but some customers returned to shops and restaurants.
The Department of the Environment said visibility was still only about 100 metres (yards), but added air quality had slightly improved.
Officials said the Air Pollutant Index (API) in Kuching measured 446 at 0900 GMT, still hazardous but down from Friday's high of 655.
Breathing air which measures even 200 to 300 API for one day would be like smoking 20 cigarettes, one senior environment official said on Friday.
State officials said more people were falling ill from smog- related ailments.
The Sarawak Medical Department said an average of 563 people per day had sought help for haze-related illnesses between Aug. 5 and Sept. 18.
A 71-year-old chief of a native village said it was the worst pollution he had ever seen.
But he said his villagers had stopped slash-and-burn clearing of fields "weeks ago", and were not to blame.
In Kuala Lumpur, several multinational companies and foreign missions have asked their expatriate employees, whose families have already left Malaysia due to the haze, to take extended leave.
The local affiliate of Ericsson Telecommunications said at least 12 dependants of its employees had returned to Sweden or left for other destinations, strictly on doctor's advice due to asthmatic or respiratory problems.
A local newspaper reported that expatriate employees of a major U.S. electronics company have been forced to take annual holidays in advance and to leave the country because of the smog. It did not name the company.
The API reading in Kuala Lumpur fell to 156 late on Saturday afternoon from 292 on Friday.
Information Minister Mohamed said the government had identified 18 local companies which are directly involved in land clearing activities in Indonesia to make room for oil palm plantations.
"They know who they are and we want them to come forward. They should co-operate and go over there to help put out the fires," Mohamed said.
Indonesian President Soeharto apologized to neighboring countries on Tuesday for the suffocating pollution and said his country was doing its best to put the fires out.