Singapore locates hot spots in Riau

Singapore locates hot spots in Riau

SINGAPORE (Agencies): The Singapore Environmental Ministry has sent satellite pictures of "hot spots" - forest fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra - to authorities in Jakarta in hopes of warding off another environmental debacle, officials said on Friday.

With 20 detected this week from large-scale burning in land- clearing operations, the ministry said it sent the pictures to the Indonesian Environmental Impact Management Agency "to assist them in carrying out checks on the ground".

The air quality has remained within the "good range" in the city- state, but the ministry said it will continue to monitor and notify the public of any significant changes.

At least 100 "hot spots" have been detected by Indonesian government officials in Riau, Jambi and Bengkulu provinces, with visibility in some areas down to only 200 meters.

"The situation is bad, especially in the morning and at night," Aries Suwandi, a forestry official in Riau's capital of Pekanbaru, told The Straits Times.

Residents in Pekanbaru, a major oil town, said that a thick haze had been covering the city and surrounding areas for days, with visibility down to 250 metres (270 yards) in the mornings.

Some people are beginning to complain of breathing problems, Suwandi said. "We will soon distribute 3,000 face-masks and medication to help them."

Suwandi said the chief culprits were plantation owners and traditional farmers using slash-and-burn land-clearing methods despite tougher environmental laws, which carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail for air polluters.

Separately, Reuters quoted another official in Pekanbaru as confirming on Friday that fires are raging again on the island of Sumatra, two years after smoke from Indonesian forests caused an environmental catastrophe in Southeast Asia.

"On March 1, there were 90 hotspots and yesterday there were 296 hotspots mostly in the northern half of Sumatra," Riadi Usman said.

Raging blazes in Sumatra and Kalimantan spewed haze over parts of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei from last June through August and shrouded Sumatra so badly that residents wore masks outside.

The Pollution Standard Index hit a high of 100 in Singapore, one point below the unhealthy range, and visibility was down to four kilometres in Kuala Lumpur - reminiscent of the 1997 and 1998 fires that devastated tourism and created an environmental disaster just as the region was clobbered by the economic crisis.