Palembang.
Some 17,000 residents of Palembang are suffering from respiratory problems
following months of haze that have blanketed the region after the dry season’s
widespread bush and forest fires.
Gema
Asiani, the head of the city’s health office, said the health problems mostly
consisted of cough, flu and breathing difficulties, including asthma.
Gema
suggested residents use face masks when leaving their homes, saying they were
effective in preventing the development of respiratory ailments.
The head of
the city’s environment office, Kemas Abubakar, said air pollution in Palembang
had been steadily rising in correlation with the increased number of fires in
the region.
The use of
fire in traditional land-clearing methods, including peatlands, releases
enormous amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and creates haze that
blankets the area, which also travels into Malaysia and Singapore.
The
practice is illegal but difficult to prevent in light of the vast area and
limited available manpower.
The Straits
Times reported on Friday that Singapore’s National Environment Agency warned
the haze had returned and could linger throughout the weekend.
The NEA
said the haze’s reappearance was largely because of a growing number of fires
in Sumatra. The blazes increased from about 50 on Sunday to more than 300 on
Wednesday, a two-week high.
The
pollutant standards index, which measures air quality, spiked to 69 on Thursday
evening. A pollutant rating of 100 is considered unhealthy.
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