Smog causes health problems in Samarinda

Smog causes health problems in Samarinda

JAKARTA (JP): Thick haze from the spreading forest fires in
East Kalimantan has forced flights to be delayed and is causing
health problems for the locals, a media report said yesterday.

The smog blanketed the provincial capital Samarinda and
surrounding areas, reducing visibility to only about 500 meters
and forcing the authorities to close Temindung airport at 7 a.m.
the Antara news agency reported.

Eight flights were postponed and 12 canceled, airport chief
Ratno SE said.

The town was dusky at 9 a.m. and people doing outdoor
activities complained of respiratory problems and sore eyes.

Airport officials said they feared the haze might linger for
"a long time" due to the absence of strong winds. It was still
blanketing the town last night.

Since the forest fires started last month, Temindung airport
has been closed 16 times and smog has caused 146 flight delays
and 60 cancellations, according to airport authorities.

Suwarna Abdul Fatah, the chief of the local coordinating board
for disaster prevention, said that over the past week reports had
been streaming in of an increased incidence of respiratory
infection and asthma.

Officials from the local agency for environmental impact
management said the smog came from fires which have destroyed
4,000 hectares of forest across the province.

The worst affected area is the Kutai National Park, which has
lost an estimated 2,000 hectares of forest rich in biodiversity.

Philippine officials said in Manila yesterday that the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was ready to act
fast if Indonesia asked for help to fight fires blazing in
Kalimantan.

"No doubt about that. This speaks of the ASEAN brotherhood...
It is a goal of ASEAN to respond to all types of emergencies for
the good of everyone in the region," Department of Foreign
Affairs spokeswoman Cora Patarata told Reuters.

"You can be assured that the action will be immediate."

Indonesian officials said Wednesday that brush fires continued
to burn in Kalimantan with nearly 200 "hot spots" reported in
East Kalimantan province alone.

The resurgence of the fires has raised fears of a possible
repeat of the smog that blanketed wide parts of Southeast Asia
last year, also sparked by Indonesian forest fires.

The smog forced the closure of some airports, cut tourist
arrivals and caused widespread health and environment problems.

Patarata said joint ASEAN action in combating the smog was
discussed by the group's foreign ministers late last year at the
height of the Indonesian forest fires.

"Clearly, this is an environmental problem and this is a
problem that will not wait for time. The countries agreed they
should help each other and so the policy is there," she said.

ASEAN comprises Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia,
Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.

The group's secretariat, based in Jakarta, said last week an
ASEAN action plan to fight regional fires would be in place in
June involving computer links between weather stations so that
all member nations could share satellite images, wind charts and
air quality data.

Environmental experts in Indonesia said the new fires were
linked to reduced monsoon rains caused by the El Nino weather
warming phenomenon in the tropical Pacific. (pan)