Spike in hot spots raises haze alarm

SINGAPORE — After a month of clear skies and a flurry of activities to tackle the problem, the threat of haze returned yesterday, with several parts of Malaysia blanketed in thick smog as air pollution reached unhealthy levels.

The situation prompted the National Environment Agency (NEA) to contact Indonesia to register its concerns over the “sudden spike” in the number of hot spots in Indonesia’s Sumatra region — which came after the number had fallen steadily thanks to firefighting efforts — and to extend the Republic’s support and assistance to prevent the haze situation from recurring.

Since Singapore enjoyed a respite from the haze exactly a month ago, several government leaders, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had warned that the haze would return and urged Singaporeans to be prepared. The latest warning was issued on Sunday by both Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu.

In a statement, the NEA said that there has been a “marked increase” in the number of hot spots in Sumatra in the last two days, with 261 and 252 hot spots detected on Sunday and yesterday, respectively.

With 250 hot spots or more detected on two consecutive days — and with dry weather conditions persisting and prevailing winds blowing towards other countries in the region — the NEA said it has also advised the interim ASEAN Coordinating Centre For Transboundary Haze Pollution that Alert Level 3 for Sumatra has been activated.

When Alert Level 3 is triggered, a panel comprising experts from ASEAN countries may be activated and deployed to the affected country, with the latter’s consent, to assist in assessing the fire and haze situation and provide their recommendations on resources that need to be mobilised to mitigate the fires and transboundary haze pollution.

The NEA said its Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Tay contacted Indonesian Deputy Minister for Environmental Degradation Control and Climate Change Arief Yuwono and Indonesian Deputy Minister for Environment and Social Vulnerability, Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare, Mr Willem Rampangilei.

Mr Tay “expressed Singapore’s concerns that the region will once again be shrouded by smoke haze if the hot spots in Sumatra continue to remain high”, the NEA said. It added that Mr Tay also sought an urgent update of Indonesia’s efforts to tackle the fires there and urged Indonesia to take immediate action.

In response, Mr Rampangilei said there has been “new sporadic burning”, the NEA said. He also assured Mr Tay that the Indonesian government is monitoring the situation and taking various actions on the ground to suppress the fires, such as cloud-seeding and water-bombing efforts.

Mr Rampangilei also said that “law enforcement and socialisation efforts on the ground” have been strengthened and the deployment of additional police and troops to the Riau area will be considered urgently in a high-level inter-agency meeting.

Yesterday afternoon, five areas in Malaysia registered unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings: Bukit Rambai, Malacca City in Malacca, Muar in Johor, Banting in Selangor and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur.

The haze in Malaysia could continue for two to three days before rain was expected to bring relief, the authorities said.

The Indonesian media reported that flights in Dumai and Pekanbaru were affected by the poor visibility caused by smoke from the forest fires. Two Dumai-bound flights had to return to Pekanbaru, while three other flights from Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru city were delayed.

Officials from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia met last week in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the haze issue. At the meeting, Indonesia committed to ratify the regional pact on transboundary haze pollution by early next year, at the latest, and agreed to share digitised concession maps with other governments. WITH AGENCIES