Sumatra 'haze' reaches Phuket

[aussie dollar]

Sumatra 'haze' reaches Phuket

PHUKET: Hazy atmospheric conditions in Phuket today are the result of forest fires on the Indonesian Island of Sumatra that have left much of Malaysia and Southern Thailand coughing in smoke over the past week.

Chumnong Chitpukdee, chief of the Meteorological Department’s Southern Meteorological Center (West Coast), confirmed that Sumatra is the source of the haze, which is being carried here across the Strait of Malacca by prevailing southwest monsoon winds.

“The haze made it as far north as Trang yesterday and today it reached Phuket,” he said.

K. Chumnong said that the concentration of smoke particles in the air was not high enough to pose a health risk and the sky should clear up considerably with the next rainfall, which he said he expects “soon”.

The haze poses no great risk to aviation, he added. “Fortunately, vis ibility is still good at the airport because of steady winds coming off the sea,” he said.

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The Phuket Gazette
18:09 local time (GMT +7)

[stevem]

Visibility in Patong is about a kilometer or less, and decreasing. Looks really bad.

[aussie dollar]

its bad KL is very bad with health problems this problem occurs often,someone or some goverment should try to stop this.
maybe education on different farming and clearing methods would help ?

[aussie dollar]

Malaysia to send help for Indonesia's fires
By Wayne Arnold The New York Times

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2005


SINGAPORE Malaysia prepared Friday to send a team of firefighters, disaster experts and needed equipment to Indonesia to help fight forest fires on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo that have blanketed Malaysia's capital and major commercial centers in a debilitating haze.

The move follows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's acceptance Thursday of an offer of aid from Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The Indonesian forestry minister, Malam Sambat Kaban, said Friday that he expected the contingent to arrive in the coming week and that the fires would be extinguished by the end of the month.

"We hope that by the end of August it will be over," he said by telephone from the Sumatran city of Medan. "We want to minimize the haze."

After forcing Malaysia to declare a state of emergency in two coastal cities Thursday, the haze eased somewhat Friday, enabling the country's biggest seaport, Port Klang, to reopen. But pollution levels remained high in Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs, including the administrative capital, Putrajaya, and in Port Klang.

Many schools and offices remained closed. Abdullah called on citizens to pray for rain to alleviate the pollution.

Haze from fires in Indonesia has become an almost annual phenomenon in Southeast Asia as rapid population growth on Sumatra and Borneo pushes more poor Indonesians into the jungle in search of wealth. Set by farmers, plantation owners, illegal loggers and miners taking advantage of the dry season to clear land, the fires feed on underground peat and coal and can smolder for months.

The haze this month appears to be even more severe than that in 1997, when a drought left much of the region covered in haze for several months, hospitalizing as many as 40,000 people. This year's haze has already pushed pollution levels on peninsular Malaysia to record levels.

The fires are concentrated, Kaban said, on the Indonesian half of Borneo and in the Sumatran provinces of Riau and North Sumatra. Satellite images taken Friday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and published by Singapore's National Environment Agency detected 53 hot spots.

Indonesia in turn agreed to enforce more sustainable land usage among farmers, plantations and logging companies.

Indonesia faces criticism that it has not done enough to stop the practice of using fire to clear land.

SINGAPORE Malaysia prepared Friday to send a team of firefighters, disaster experts and needed equipment to Indonesia to help fight forest fires on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo that have blanketed Malaysia's capital and major commercial centers in a debilitating haze.

The move follows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's acceptance Thursday of an offer of aid from Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The Indonesian forestry minister, Malam Sambat Kaban, said Friday that he expected the contingent to arrive in the coming week and that the fires would be extinguished by the end of the month.

"We hope that by the end of August it will be over," he said by telephone from the Sumatran city of Medan. "We want to minimize the haze."

After forcing Malaysia to declare a state of emergency in two coastal cities Thursday, the haze eased somewhat Friday, enabling the country's biggest seaport, Port Klang, to reopen. But pollution levels remained high in Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs, including the administrative capital, Putrajaya, and in Port Klang.

Many schools and offices remained closed. Abdullah called on citizens to pray for rain to alleviate the pollution.

Haze from fires in Indonesia has become an almost annual phenomenon in Southeast Asia as rapid population growth on Sumatra and Borneo pushes more poor Indonesians into the jungle in search of wealth. Set by farmers, plantation owners, illegal loggers and miners taking advantage of the dry season to clear land, the fires feed on underground peat and coal and can smolder for months.

The haze this month appears to be even more severe than that in 1997, when a drought left much of the region covered in haze for several months, hospitalizing as many as 40,000 people. This year's haze has already pushed pollution levels on peninsular Malaysia to record levels.

The fires are concentrated, Kaban said, on the Indonesian half of Borneo and in the Sumatran provinces of Riau and North Sumatra. Satellite images taken Friday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and published by Singapore's National Environment Agency detected 53 hot spots.

On Thursday, Malaysia's natural resources and environment minister, Adenan Satem, and the minister of plantation industries and commodities, Peter Chin, flew to Medan to meet with Kaban and other officials.

Kaban said the ministers agreed that Malaysia would train Indonesians in cloud-seeding techniques and in methods of land clearance that could replace slash-and-burn practices.

Indonesia in turn agreed to enforce more sustainable land usage among farmers, plantations and logging companies.

Malaysia has reportedly assembled a team of 100 firefighters and 25 disaster-relief personnel, along with aircraft for pouring rain-inducing chemicals into clouds, to fight the more than 300 fires said to be burning. Malaysia also sent firefighters and cloud-seeding equipment to Indonesia in 1997.

Indonesia faces criticism that it has not done enough to stop the practice of using fire to clear land.

SINGAPORE Malaysia prepared Friday to send a team of firefighters, disaster experts and needed equipment to Indonesia to help fight forest fires on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo that have blanketed Malaysia's capital and major commercial centers in a debilitating haze.

The move follows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's acceptance Thursday of an offer of aid from Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The Indonesian forestry minister, Malam Sambat Kaban, said Friday that he expected the contingent to arrive in the coming week and that the fires would be extinguished by the end of the month.

"We hope that by the end of August it will be over," he said by telephone from the Sumatran city of Medan. "We want to minimize the haze."

.

Haze from fires in Indonesia has become an almost annual phenomenon in Southeast Asia as rapid population growth on Sumatra and Borneo pushes more poor Indonesians into the jungle in search of wealth. Set by farmers, plantation owners, illegal loggers and miners taking advantage of the dry season to clear land, the fires feed on underground peat and coal and can smolder for months.

The haze this month appears to be even more severe than that in 1997, when a drought left much of the region covered in haze for several months, hospitalizing as many as 40,000 people. This year's haze has already pushed pollution levels on peninsular Malaysia to record levels.

Malaysia has reportedly assembled a team of 100 firefighters and 25 disaster-relief personnel, along with aircraft for pouring rain-inducing chemicals into clouds, to fight the more than 300 fires said to be burning. Malaysia also sent firefighters and cloud-seeding equipment to Indonesia in 1997.

Indonesia faces criticism that it has not done enough to stop the practice of using fire to clear land.

SINGAPORE Malaysia prepared Friday to send a team of firefighters, disaster experts and needed equipment to Indonesia to help fight forest fires on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo that have blanketed Malaysia's capital and major commercial centers in a debilitating haze.

The move follows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's acceptance Thursday of an offer of aid from Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The Indonesian forestry minister, Malam Sambat Kaban, said Friday that he expected the contingent to arrive in the coming week and that the fires would be extinguished by the end of the month.

"We hope that by the end of August it will be over," he said by telephone from the Sumatran city of Medan. "We want to minimize the haze."

After forcing Malaysia to declare a state of emergency in two coastal cities Thursday, the haze eased somewhat Friday, enabling the country's biggest seaport, Port Klang, to reopen. But pollution levels remained high in Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs, including the administrative capital, Putrajaya, and in Port Klang.

Many schools and offices remained closed. Abdullah called on citizens to pray for rain to alleviate the pollution.

Haze from fires in Indonesia has become an almost annual phenomenon in Southeast Asia as rapid population growth on Sumatra and Borneo pushes more poor Indonesians into the jungle in search of wealth. Set by farmers, plantation owners, illegal loggers and miners taking advantage of the dry season to clear land, the fires feed on underground peat and coal and can smolder for months.

The haze this month appears to be even more severe than that in 1997, when a drought left much of the region covered in haze for several months, hospitalizing as many as 40,000 people. This year's haze has already pushed pollution levels on peninsular Malaysia to record levels.

The fires are concentrated, Kaban said, on the Indonesian half of Borneo and in the Sumatran provinces of Riau and North Sumatra. Satellite images taken Friday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and published by Singapore's National Environment Agency detected 53 hot spots.

[stevem]

Originally Posted by aussie dollar

its bad KL is very bad with health problems this problem occurs often,someone or some goverment should try to stop this.
maybe education on different farming and clearing methods would help ?

I was living in KL 93,94 and 95. We had it back then and they will continue to have it. Its the same here, everyone just burns stuff in their yards. THere is no thought given to the environment in this part of the world.

[LivinLOS]

About the only run in I used to have with my neighbours at my old place was that behind the house they started burning plastic bottles every night at dusk.. I had no AC downstairs so windows had to remain open...

Burning plastic smell nightly.. Being asked nicely got nothing.. A few choce shouting sessions lowered it but they would still do it once a week or so.. Just used to make a bonfire and sit round it burning plastic for nightly entertainment while drinking whisky ?!?!?!

[aussie dollar]

Indonesian problem been going on for ages remember in 97 flying over indonesia at dawn smoke and ash was unbelievable at high altitude,and could see the fires for miles.
was in KL and singapore could hardly see or breathe,so its an old problem.
think its mainly from clearing and slash and burn farming.