Residents told to stay indoors as haze worsens

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)