Haze

So, it has been a rather hazy week. On some days, there is a lingering acrid smell in the atmosphere.

I am lucky that the haze don’t bother me much. I still take my daily walk. But on days when there is that arid smell, I usually cut short the walk. There will still be some walking and jogging when the haze is light, but when it is bad, the numbers decreased significantly. Only the odd jogger or two.

The sun is hazed.

The Southern part of Singapore, in the business district is most affected.

Source

The haze comes from the fires in Indonesia’s forests. Every year, from July to October during Indonesia’s dry season, many farmers take advantage of the dry conditions to clear vegetation for palm oil plantations using the slash-and-burn method. The land area is big, and the fires quickly spin out of control, spreading into forested areas. According to the meteorological center, there are over 600 hot spots in Indonesia.

The haze from the fire spreads to the neighbouring country like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines. In Malaysia, it was so bad that schools were forced to close. In Indonesia itself, I have seen on the newsreel, the haze is so bad, visibility is less than ten meters. Flights were cancelled due to visibility, or the lack of.

This is the situation in Indonesia.

Source

In Singapore, so far there was only one day when the Pollutants Standards Index (PSI) levels went over the unhealthy level. Looking out of my window now, I think the haze today is also at a unhealthy level.

The haze is quite disruptive. Outdoor activities are forced to cancel or moved indoors where possible. There is an increase in respiratory problems. Doctors are seeing more patients – especially the elderly and the children. Eye-drops and masks are flying off the shelves. There was a year, when it was particularly bad, all the stores ran out of masks. After that incident, the stores are now more prepared. They are assuring people that they have plenty of masks.

Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about the situation, except hope for rain, rain and more rain – or a change of wind direction. That will have to be in late October.

Affected countries complained to Indonesia and asked that they do something about the fires. But as the President himself said, it is not a simple nor easy matter. One of his ministers go so far as to say, we didn’t thank them for giving us 11 months of clean air, and yet we complain about a month of haze.

With that sort of mentality in government, we don’t really see an immediate solution to the haze problem. So, while waiting for Indonesia to do something about the fires, while the forest razed and burned, we can only grin and bear it.