Residents told to stay indoors as haze worsens

JAKARTA (JP): The severity of the thick haze has prompted authorities in some provinces to urge people to stay indoors and shorten school hours to prevent exposure to the smoke's perilous effects.

Governor Soeripto urged people in Riau to reduce outdoor activities and remain indoors.

Through his spokesman, Lukman Jaafar, the governor said people should only go out of the house when it was really necessary.

In Central Kalimantan, the provincial administration has allow schools to shorten their hours.

Speaking in Sampit yesterday, Deputy Governor Siswanto Adi said: "Areas which are under heavy 'attack' from the haze may break up early."

Siswanto was addressing a rally to combat the haze problem and even the rally had to be moved indoors because the haze was too thick.

He then called on residents to don facial masks to help lessen the negative effects of the haze.

Some 300,000 hectares of forest, mostly in Kalimantan and Sumatra, have reportedly been burned in the past few months causing severe haze in the surrounding areas. The haze has also wreaked havoc in Malaysia and Singapore.

Health specialists warn that while the immediate effects may not be deadly, the long-term repercussion may be detrimental to people's health.

Lung specialist Soetojo Sastrosoedirdjo told The Jakarta Post here yesterday that particles contained in the haze can stimulate lung spasms and secretions, which in turn would lead to phlegm and breathing difficulties.

"People gradually feel choked, as the oxygen drawn into their lungs lessens and the intake of particles from the haze rises," he explained.

Despite the medical treatment available, Soetojo said the best measure was to keep away from the haze.

"Perhaps the best way now is evacuation," he said.

An eye-specialist from Aini Eye Hospital in Jakarta, Rumita Kadarisman, said the thick smoke would at the very least cause eye irritation.

"The eyes will redden and become watery," she said.

She explained that this in itself was not particularly dangerous since the irritation occurred on the outer part of the eye.

But it is difficult to resist the temptation to frequently rub the irritated eye and this causes inflammation and infection, she said.

"Older people are more vulnerable than children, as their ability to produce tears has decreased." (09/mds)