Smoke affects North Sumatra, after W. Kalimantan's capital

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): As with the people of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, who have yet to be free from choking haze, the North Sumatra capital of Medan began to experience the arriving haze with helpless frustration on Wednesday.

Tuban Wioso, secretary of the evaluation team at the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency in Medan told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the haze started on Tuesday.

"The thick haze comes from forest fires in Labuhan Batu, near Medan and other forest fires in Riau," he said. Labuhan Batu is a four-hour drive from Medan while Riau is a province in southern Sumatra.

Quoting agency records, based on the latest satellite photos, there were 279 hot spots scattered across the island of Sumatra.

"The hot spots started to appear on July 3. If they are not extinguished, the haze will soon spread farther and farther," Tuban said.

"Now haze coverage extends 300 kilometers from the location of the fires. This means that the haze will soon spread to the Straits of Malacca as the wind has begun to blow from a southeasterly direction."

He noted that the fires needed to be extinguished to solve the problem, warning that rain is not likely to fall soon.

However, the haze in Medan has yet to disrupt flight schedules.

"The visibility at Polonia Airport is 3,000 meters between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and 5,000 meters at 2 p.m.," said Tuban. "Visibility only becomes a danger at an airport if it drops to about 500 meters."

Reuters reported on Wednesday that smoke from forest fires in Sumatra was clearing over Thailand and Malaysia.

Weather officials in southern Thailand said visibility had returned to normal in most areas on Wednesday after a change in wind direction took the smoke away.

In Malaysia, rain appeared early on Wednesday to clear much of the smoke that clouded the sky over parts of the country the day before.

"The air quality has improved from yesterday and we are quite pleased with the situation," said director-general of Malaysia's environment department Rosnani Ibarahim.

Meanwhile, the haze has been spreading to some neighboring regencies around Pontianak, including Siantan regency.

Not all people involved in outdoor activities are using masks, despite calls from the governor.

Haze began to disrupt marine transport on Wednesday. Mabuhay Nusantara, a passenger ship sailing the Pontianak-Jakarta route and Senopati, a ship plying the Pontianak-Semarang-Surabaya route, had to leave port early to avoid thick smog at sea. "They had to leave at 8 p.m. the day before," an employee of PT Prima Vista, which operates the vessels, said. "The vessels were scheduled to leave at 2 p.m. the following day. However, at 2 p.m. visibility is very bad at sea near Pontianak." (42/46/sur)