Although the air for some parts of the UK has been warm and muggy this week, at least the discomfort has been shortlived and minimal. In Singapore, people are now being warned to stay indoors as terrible haze covers the land. My friend’s employer has said she can work from home but most of the country doesn't have that luxury.
“We're housebound, keeping all the doors and windows closed but it still seeps in. It leaves a funny taste in your mouth. “
Another friend posted a photo of teachers and pupils wearing face masks on the bus to school. They are also being worn to bed at night.
“The whole country smells like a campfire - and not in a good way. If you stand outside for too long, your throat starts to burn and your eyes water. It's clearly pretty noxious stuff”
Singapore has just entered into its Southwest Monsoon phase running from June to Sept. with the drift of air now coming from Sumatra. These poor conditions do occur annually but this year's smog is particularly bad.
"We cannot tell how the haze problem will develop. It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a press conference yesterday.
In Indonesia, some farmers are still lighting fresh fires despite the worsening haze conditions in the area. Burning oil palm fruit crop is a traditional way of making fertilisers, using the ashes on other parts of the oil palm plantation.They wait for a dry spell with off shore winds to start the burning process. Huge companies use the cheap and illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island, to the west of Singapore, to clear space for palm oil plantations. The smoke is a chronic problem, particularly during the dry season. See NASA firemapper FIRMS image
A senior Indonesian minister, Agung, has hit out at Singapore on the haze, saying: "Singapore shouldn't be like children, in such a tizzy.". Mr Agung said cloud seeding to induce rain would be carried out as soon as feasible. The salt is ready, the planes are in place, but there must be clouds, he added. Even this may not help as the fires get underground and fester.
My friend did add “The only upside is that "smoking" is the most common way to deal with mosquitoes in Singapore. There has been a recent outbreak of dengue fever so with a little luck the "haze" will at least have a small silver lining.”
