Thứ Bảy, 22 tháng 6, 2013

Singapore smog hits critical level, life-threatening for the ill and elderly


Posted


June 21, 2013 16:23:36



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Photo:


Forest fires in Indonesia have caused record pollutants levels in Singapore. (Reuters:Edgar Su )


Singapore’s smog index has hit the critical 400 level, making it potentially life-threatening to the ill and elderly people, according to a government monitoring site.


The record level was reached after a rapid rise for the third day in a row in the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI), which measures the haze crisis caused by Indonesian forest fires.


Sustained PSI average levels above 400 on a 24-hour basis “may be life-threatening to ill and elderly persons”, according to Singapore government guidelines.


Indonesian and Singaporean officials have been holding emergency talks on how to extinguish the fires on farms and plantations on Sumatra island, which are also affecting Malaysia.



Singapore’s worst environmental crisis in more than a decade has seen the acrid smoke creep into people’s flats and cloak residential blocks as well as downtown skyscrapers.


The country’s prime minister has warned it could last weeks


Indonesia dispatched helicopters on Friday to create artificial rain in a desperate bid to fight the raging fires.


Haze crisis emerges, commuters at risk


At a late-night emergency meeting,, president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered disaster officials to “immediately mobilise all the country’s resources” to extinguish the fires on Sumatra island that created vast palls of smoke.


Indonesia’s national disaster agency said that two helicopters with cloud-seeding equipment were sent early Friday from Jakarta and Borneo island to Riau province, where hundreds of hectares of carbon-rich peatland are ablaze.


“Hopefully, we will be able to create artificial rain today,” agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.


Before the latest crisis which erupted on Monday, the previous Singapore air pollutant index high was 226, recorded in September 1997 at the height of a South-East Asian calamity.


That episode also resulted from vast amounts of haze from Indonesia, where slash-and-burn farming generates heavy smoke during the dry season that begins in June.


Parts of Malaysia close to Singapore have also been severely affected by the smog this week.


The haze crisis has had a dramatic impact on life in Singapore, with the city-state’s residents scaling back their activities in a bid to protect themselves.


Fast-food deliveries have been cancelled, the army has suspended field training and even Singapore’s top marathon runner has been forced to run indoors.


Hunched commuters are wearing masks or cover their mouths as they travel to and from home, with major drug stores reporting they have temporarily run out of masks and refuse to accept advance orders.


Fears smog level could rise, supplies running low


General practitioner Philip Koh said he had seen a 20 per cent spike in consultations in the past week, and estimated that about 80 per cent of all his patients are suffering from haze-related ailments.


“My patients are telling me they are worried about how long this is going to last and how much higher this is going to go. It is already high at 400 now, how much higher will it go?” he said.


Dr Koh also said many were turning to his clinic to buy protective masks, as supplies are low at retailers.


“Our supplies are running low here too,” he said.



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Photo:


A general view of the causeway from Singapore to Johor Bahru is obscured by haze on June 21, 2013. (AFP: Roslan Rahman)


Illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia’s Sumatra island to clear space for palm oil plantations is a chronic problem during the June to September dry season.


The haze crisis has caused tensions to escalate dramatically between tiny Singapore and its vast neighbour, with the city-state repeatedly demanding that Jakarta step up its efforts to put out the fires.


However, Indonesian officials have become irate at the demands, and on Thursday the minister coordinating Jakarta’s response to the crisis accused Singapore of acting “like a child”.


If the 400 index average is sustained over a 24-hour period, the government advises all children, elderly people and persons with existing diseases to stay indoors, keep windows closed and avoid physical exertion as much as possible.


AFP/Reuters



Topics:

air-pollution,

singapore




Singapore smog hits critical level, life-threatening for the ill and elderly

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