SINGAPORE — A better early warning system to predict if and when the haze will hit Singapore is currently being “looked into” by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), with the Minister coordinating the country’s efforts pledging that government agencies will continue sharpening their contingency plans should the haze return.

Speaking to the media during an interview on Friday, Dr Ng Eng Hen, who is Chairman of the Haze Inter-Ministerial Committee, outlined several key lessons the authorities had gleaned from the haze episode — which hit hazardous levels two weeks ago — while stressing that the various ministries remain prepared to activate their plans if necessary.

While he pointed out that the National Environment Agency (NEA) had started issuing daily health advisories, and rolling 24-hr PSI readings as part of a “predictive system” to help Singaporeans better plan their activities during the haze period, Dr Ng said that “a better early warning system for haze” is needed as “we don’t really want to be caught by surprise”.

He said: “If we can have a better model ... At least we can tell Singaporeans, within a certain level of confidence that, ‘The hotspots are burning, the haze is headed this way, if the winds don’t change, it’ll hit us in ‘X’ number of hours, please be prepared’. It’s a simple statement that we can put out and it’ll be very useful.”

As such, MEWR and the NEA, with a team of health and weather experts, is currently looking into a system with a “more scientifically-based rigorous method”, which is based on the hotspots in Indonesia, weather patterns and historical data, to “better predict” if Singapore is “at risk of haze”.

When asked to elaborate when and how this early warning system will be rolled out, Dr Ng, who is also Defence Minister, did not indicate a timeline but revealed that better technology — such as satellite monitoring — is an advantage which can be leveraged on to do data “modelling”. Dr Ng, however, added that information from Indonesia on climate is necessary for a better predictive model.

He said: “We certainly want to ask them for better information on wind, rain so that we can predict better. The (ASEAN) agreement on transboundary haze actually operationalises that because there’s a clause that says more effective monitoring on hotspots as well as climatic conditions, so it’ll be very useful if that can be ratified.”

A better system is necessary as Dr Ng stressed that the haze is a “long-term problem” which can be expected to recur over the next few years. This is due to the scale of the area being set on fire as well as slashing and burning being the predominant method of forest-clearing in Indonesia.

Said Dr Ng: “Slashing and burning is the predominant method in Sumatra and other areas and has been practiced for decades, it isn’t a recent phenomenon ... I suspect that this practice will be hard to eradicate and change overnight.”

To “address the problem at its source”, Dr Ng said that a multi-pronged approach consisting of governmental diplomatic efforts, non-governmental organisations to encourage more sustainable practices on the ground and “avenues where consumers can help” is necessary.

When asked if Singapore is prepared if the haze returns and reaches hazardous levels, Dr Ng said he felt that Singaporeans are better prepared, while reiterating that the authorities’ main goal is to minimise disruption and ensure that life will go on as normally as possible.

In response to why there was a delay in the authorities’ announcement of their contingency plans, Dr Ng reiterated that the plans were in place but had to be customised to the specific “threat” Singapore might be dealing with.

He explained; “These contingency plans are generic in the sense that they respond to the haze, flu pandemic or terrorist threats ... But they have to be customised to the specific threat. It’s the haze now, couple of weeks hence, we might be hit by something else, and then we have to adapt.”

He also added that the haze crisis gave various agencies the opportunity to “validate their plans” and make sure that “they knew how to operationalise it”.

Dr Ng also said that the authorities’ responses and operation plans “have improved a lot over the years” from experience dealing with the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or the H1N1 influenza infection.

He said: “We can never stop improving because if we’re slow, lives can be affected, but comparing across just this decade or so, I would say that our systems are much more structured in the way that we know which levels and things to activate.”

Better early warning system against haze lined up; agencies to sharpen contingency plans