U.S. to Help Clear Asian Haze
10/10/97
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Headline: U.S. to Help Clear Asian Haze
Source: United Press International
Date: 10/10/97
From - Tue Oct 14 07:56:19 1997
Copyright 1997 by United Press International
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The Clinton administration is sending
technical experts to Malaysia and Indonesia to help manage an
environmental crisis caused by fires, pollution and weather
abnormalities.
The Clinton administration says American advisors from nine federal
agencies will leave for Southeast Asia in the coming weeks, and the
Pentagon is sending three C-130s especially equipped to fight forest
fires.
State Department spokesman James P. Rubin says the United States is
leading the response to the ``new kinds of problems we are having in the
world.''
Most of Southeast Asia is blanketed in a thick haze as a result of
fires used to clear fields, a situation aggravated by low rainfall and
unusual weather associated with El Nino.
El Nino is a current of warm water that has been wreaking havoc with
weather patterns around the world.