Rains washing away the smog

Rains washing away the smog

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Southeast Asia's air quality has improved in the last week as rains have doused forest fires across Indonesia, a regional tourism body said yesterday.

The ASEAN National Tourism Organizations said skies over Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore had all seen less smoke haze in recent days.

Rain had removed many of the fire "hotspots" on East Kalimantan in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations body.

"The total hotspots in East Kalimantan have decreased dramatically from 733 over the past week to 72 as of April 30, following the showers that took place between April 23 to 30," it said in a statement.

But to date nearly half a million hectares in East Kalimantan had burned, it said.