Unhealthy haze casts pall over Singapore

SINGAPORE — The Republic experienced its worst haze in two years yesterday, with the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) breaching the 200-mark — prompting Singapore to register its concerns over the haze situation with Indonesia and offer assistance.

Air quality was in unhealthy territory for much of the day, with the 24-hour PSI at 132 to 148 as at 11pm. The three-hour PSI reading was an eye-watering 207, exceeding the three-hour PSI of 153 seen last year. Air quality is considered “very unhealthy” when the 24-hour PSI crosses 200.

In an update yesterday evening, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said that 328 hotspots were detected in Sumatra yesterday, up from 140 the day before. Haze was observed in central and southern Sumatra and some of it has spread to the sea areas east of Sumatra and south of Singapore, said the NEA.

The 24-hour PSI is unexpected to be in the low to middle range of the unhealthy band (101 to 200) today, and may further deteriorate if the winds become unfavourable. The NEA advised healthy persons to reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion, while the elderly, pregnant women and children should minimise prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion, as should those with chronic lung or heart disease.

With the situation deteriorating, Singapore’s leaders reached out to their Indonesian counterparts yesterday to urge action and offer fire-fighting assistance. The NEA said Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday conveyed Singapore’s “deep concern” to the Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar, and called for stricter enforcement actions against the perpetrators.

He also reiterated Singapore’s offer of an assistance package for Indonesia, and requested for information on those responsible for the haze so as to facilitate appropriate enforcement action, said the NEA.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen called Indonesian Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu to assist in combating the forest fires in Sumatra. The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) have placed on standby a C-130 aircraft for cloud-seeding operations, a Chinook helicopter with a water bucket for aerial fire-fighting, and up to two C-130 aircraft to ferry the Singapore Civil Defence Force fire-fighting assistance team.

“The SAF stands ready to support and assist the Indonesian military (TNI), which has been deployed to put out the fires,” said MINDEF in a statement.

The haze is at its worst since 2013, when the PSI soared to a choking 401 in June that year. The smog blanketing the region put pressure on Indonesia to take action, but progress has been slow in enacting measures such as a regional haze monitoring system. Singapore last year enacted the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, which allows entities causing or contributing to unhealthy levels of haze here to be fined up to S$2 million.