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.