Workers struggle to fight forest fires

Workers struggle to fight forest fires

Agencies, Jakarta/Kuala Lumpur

Government workers struggled on Thursday to contain fires in
central Sumatra that have shrouded large parts of neighboring
Malaysia in thick white haze.

Forest fires and blazes set by local farmers were burning out
of control in four provinces, said Firman, an official with the
Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), identifying more than
150 hotspots.

The sky was dark in parts of central Sumatra, but strong winds
have for the last three days carried much of the smoke across the
Malacca Straits and into Malaysia, he told AP.

"We are very sorry about this," said Firman, who goes by only
one name.

Workers have been focusing most of their attention on the
hardest hit province Riau, said Firman. The other blazes were in
the provinces of North Sumatra, Jambi and Kalimantan.

Forests have been razed in several districts of Kalimantan,
said Zainul Arifin, a local Ministry of Forestry official. He
said many of the fires were lit by farmers to clear land.

Forest fires often break out in the region during dry spells
because of illegal land-clearing fires or carelessly discarded
cigarettes.

Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia and Indonesia
experienced theirs worst air quality levels in 1997, when brush
fires in Indonesia destroyed some 10 million hectares of
vegetation, cloaking much of Southeast Asia with haze.

Meanwhile, Malaysians were advised on Thursday to stay indoors
while hospitals are on the alert for health problems after air
quality was declared unhealthy as a haze cloaked Malaysia's
capital and surrounding areas.

"Try to stay indoors as much as you can," Health Department
director-general Ismail Merican told the Bernama news agency.

All government hospitals and clinics have been directed to be
on the alert for an increase in respiratory problems, coughs,
sore throats and eye irritations, The New Straits Times reported.

Kuala Lumpur and four surrounding areas including the
administrative center Putrajaya were declared unhealthy
Wednesday, as well as regions in the neighboring southern states
of Negeri Sembilan and Malacca.

Strenuous activity outside would be unhealthy for most people,
especially for those with respiratory problems like asthma and
allergies, authorities said.

However, the Department of Environment said the hazy
conditions had partially eased on Thursday.

"The situation has improved. The air quality has improved, all
of our stations around the country are recording 'good' or
moderate' air quality," its deputy-director general Lee Heng Keng
told AFP.