Students head back to school as haze eases

JAKARTA (JP): Two days of rain have diminished the weeklong thick haze shrouding Riau's provincial capital of Pekanbaru and allowed students to return to school, Antara reported on Thursday.

Authorities earlier in the week ordered children to remain indoors due to possible health hazards from the haze, which is the result of spreading forest fires and crop burnings. Kindergarten and elementary school students who skipped school since Monday filled school halls and classrooms on Thursday, the news agency reported.

"Now we can freely play outside with friends... now the sky is clear. It's boring to stay inside all the time," said one of the children.

The Riau office of the Environmental Impact Agency said last week that it found two companies which were burning shrubs and trees to clear land. Police are investigating the report, agency officials said.

Smoke from the fires, especially in Sumatra, has drifted to neighboring Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.

Forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan covered much of the region with a choking haze for months in 1997 and to a lesser extent in 1998, causing extensive health and traffic problems.

Separately, ASEAN ministers responsible for transboundary haze pollution have decided to meet at the end of this month to assess the regional haze situation and review the implementation of the ASEAN regional haze plan action, an ASEAN media release said on Thursday. The site of the meeting was not disclosed.

The regional grouping has established operational mechanisms to monitor land and forest fires and strengthen fire-fighting capability.

A coordinating support unit also has been established at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta to facilitate the implementation of the action plan.

Forecasts by the ASEAN specialized meteorological center indicate that a moderate La Nina weather phenomenon may persist until the end of 1999. Rainfall in most parts of the region is expected to be near or above normal for the next few months.

However, many parts of the country, especially Kalimantan and Sumatra, are currently in the dry season which usually spans from June to October.

With the onset of dry weather, sporadic forest fires and resultant smoke haze are likely to continue affecting the region during the period, but the chance of widespread regional haze is expected to be low, the statement noted. (edt)