Malaysia to start cloud seeding in Indonesia to put out fires
Malaysia to start cloud seeding in Indonesia to put out fires
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia will start cloud seeding in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan provinces next week amid warnings that the haze crisis caused by forest fires there could flare up again, a minister said on Friday.
Science, technology and innovation minister Jamaluddin Jarjis said Malaysia, which has already sent 125 firefighters to Sumatra, would deploy two aircraft to Indonesia on Monday.
"The cloud seeding will be conducted until all the fires are put out," he said according to the official Bernama news agency.
Kuala Lumpur and surrounding districts as well as the west coast of Malaysia were smothered with a choking layer of haze last week, but changing winds sent the smoke and dust north to Thailand and the resort island of Phuket.
Malaysia's meteorological services department said another change in wind directions over the next few days could see the haze return to Malaysia.
"But this time around, the hazy conditions are not expected to be as bad as previously," said weather forecast office principal assistant director Wong Teck Kiong.
Wong said because the forest fires were concentrated in central Sumatra, the haze would likely hit central peninsular Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur and Malacca.
Japanese and South Korean officials holding a one-day meeting with their Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) counterparts in northern Penang state on Friday offered assistance to Indonesia.
Naohisa Okuda, senior policy coordinator with Japan's environment ministry, said he would compile information on the haze so that Tokyo could determine the form of assistance it could provide.
"I think Japan could offer assistance to ASEAN, including expertise and manpower. I think we are ready..." he was quoted as saying by Bernama on the sidelines of the meeting.
Malaysia and Singapore have both called for a more coordinated response from ASEAN on the annual haze problem, which in 1997- 1998 cost the region some US$9 billion by disrupting air travel and other business activities.
Singapore said on Tuesday it would send a military plane equipped with cloud-seeding devices to Sumatra island by the end of the week.