Forest fire haze clears over Singapore ahead of F1

SINGAPORE- Singapore's skies were clearer Friday and air quality improved as smog from Indonesian forest fires drifted away, easing fears that this weekend's Formula One race may be affected.

Raging blazes in Indonesia have been spewing toxic haze over neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, with Jakarta deploying security forces and water-bombing aircraft to tackle them.

The Indonesian fires are an annual problem during the dry season when farmers use illegal slash-and-burn techniques to clear land for agriculture, but this year's are the worst since 2015.

Thick smog had been hanging over Singapore since last weekend, pushing air quality to unhealthy levels, obscuring the waterfront skyline and sparking fears that Sunday's showpiece F1 night race could be affected.

But on Friday the skies were largely clear, with only a light haze over the city, while air quality improved to a "moderate" level of around 60 on the National Environment Agency's scale.

A reading between 101 and 200 indicates unhealthy air quality.

The wind direction could however still change ahead of the weekend and push smog back over Singapore.

F1 organizers say they have a contingency plan if the haze worsens and have been stocking up on face masks to protect against pollution which spectators can buy at the circuit.

Indonesia and Malaysia have been worst affected by haze from the fires, which are burning on Indonesia's Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo. Borneo is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Thousands of schools have been forced to close in both countries amid mounting health concerns, while several airports have shut in Indonesian Borneo due to poor visibility.

On Friday more than 2,600 schools were closed in Malaysia, education authorities said.

The worst-affected state was Sarawak, on Borneo, where more than 1,000 schools were shuttered and air quality reached "hazardous" levels in one area bordering Indonesia, according to an official index.

Indonesia meanwhile had some success in "cloud-seeding" -- inducing rain using chemicals sprayed from planes -- with the technique producing a downpour over hard-hit Riau province on Sumatra, disaster agency spokesman Agus Wibowo said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Singapore smog breaches 'hazardous' level

Smog levels in Singapore from Indonesian forest fires hit the highest level on record Wednesday as the air pollutant index breached the "hazardous" level.

The index soared to 321 at 10:00 pm (1400 GMT), according the the website of the National Environment Agency (NEA), well past the 300-mark considered "hazardous".

Before Wednesday, Singapore's most severe haze reading was in September 1997 when the number peaked at 226.

Anything above 200 is considered "very unhealthy", particularly to the elderly, young children and people with heart and lung disease.

When levels hit hazardous, vulnerable people can experience "early onset of certain diseases in addition to significant aggravation of (already present) symptoms," the NEA said. Healthy people also find it harder to exercise in such conditions, the agency added.

Now that the pollution levels have topped the 300 threshold, elderly people with existing heart or lung diseases are advised to stay indoors and the general population to "avoid vigorous outdoor activity", according to government guidelines.

The smog, which had been worsening since Monday, triggered a run on medical masks and angry complaints from foreign tourists and locals.

"We are going to leave Singapore two days early because we are having trouble breathing," said Zac Kot, 40, a business owner from the United States who was on holiday with his wife and two young girls.

Indignant Singaporeans attacked their government on the web for its handling of the problem. Disposable medical masks flew off drugstores' shelves as consumers and companies bought them in bulk and placed orders for more.

Even tourists from Indonesia -- traditionally the largest source of visitors to Singapore -- protested about the smoky haze from Sumatra island, where some farmers and plantations deliberately set off fires to clear land for cultivation.

"It's not very good, and it's getting harder to breathe. I just don't know where to go," said Rangga Adisapoetra, 30, a risk management executive from Indonesia's main island Java attending a mobile communications and broadcasting expo.

"Maybe tomorrow, I'll visit Universal Studios," he told AFP, temporarily lifting a grey face mask to speak.

The pollution problem peaks during the June-September dry season, when monsoon winds transport thick clouds of smoke from Sumatra to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com