Smog To Go But No End To Forest Fires
10/2/97
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: Smog To Go But No End To Forest Fires
Source: Agence France-Presse
Date: 10/2/97
Byline: Bernard Estrade
Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
JAKARTA, Oct 2 (AFP) - Changing winds will clear smog covering
much of Southeast Asia, the head of the Indonesian meteorological
service said Thursday, but there is no end in sight to the country's
forest fires.
Experts warned an intense campaign was still needed to put out
the fires and inhabitants of one badly hit Indonesian city have
started leaving for safer areas. Singapore also ordered action to
protect employees from the ever thickening haze.
Indonesian Meteorology Office chief Sri Diharto told AFP a
change in the wind pattern had been detected "and this will soon
take the smoke away from our neighbours."
The new wind was pushing smoke from forest fires in Sumatra
towards the Indian Ocean, away from Malaysia and Singapore which
have borne the brunt of the suffocating haze in recent weeks.
Winds over Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, another major
source of smoke, will send smog towards the Strait of Karimata and
the South China Sea, he added.
Raging forest and ground fires in Indonesia, mostly blamed on
plantation and timber companies, have thrown up a huge cloud of
smoke now covering Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and parts of
Thailand and the Philippines.
The smog has caused serious health problems and severely
disrupted air transport.
A Garuda Indonesia Airbus crashed into a smog shrouded
Indonesian mountainside last Friday, killing all 234 people on
board. Two ships collided in the Strait of Malacca, also in the
smog.
Rain has already started falling in some areas, Diharto said,
would soon come in parts of Sumatra, including the smog hit
provinces of Southern Sumatra, Riau and Jambi.
The number of foreigners visiting Indonesia has dropped as
tourists avoid Southeast Asia's smog crisis, a travel industry
official said.
"I do not have the figures but the smog has led to a decline in
the number of foreign tourists visiting the country," said Elly
Hutabarat, an official of the Association of Indonesian Travel
Agencies was quoted as saying by the official Antara news agency.
Many foreign tourists have cancelled or postponed their trips to
Indonesia to avoid the choking haze triggered by raging forest fires
in the country, she told a public forum.
Jambi has been the worst hit places for the smog. A lot of Jambi
inhabitants, especially children and pregnant women, have fled the
city for safer areas on Java island, the Kompas daily reported
without giving any figure.
But experts have warned that the rain and intense efforts would
not end the blazes which have covered an estimated 800,000 hectares
(two million acres) of forest and plantations.
Highly flammable peat in many of the fire zones is difficult to
extinguish and the lack of water has also hampered fire fighters.
"We are facing many problems in our combat against fires," said
Colonel Daim Affandi of the Disaster Control Coordination Center in
Pekanbaru, Riau province.
Following international criticism, President Suharto has already
apologised to Indonesia's neighbours and he reaffirmed Thursday that
"we are working hard to overcome the ground and forest fires and the
smoke that is spreading everywhere," the Suara Pembaruan daily
reported.
The Thai authorities, who have issued tens of thousands of
protective masks, said the haze was already clearing over its
southern provinces.
But in Singapore, the labour ministry has issued orders to
employers to ensure the safety of workers as haze reached unhealthy
levels and was expected to worsen.
The haze has obscured buildings in the city-state and prompted
the Ministry of Labour to order employers to equip workers with
respirator masks to deal with dust and ash in the air.
The Ministry of Environment said "the elderly and persons with
heart or respiratory diseases should reduce physical exertion and
outdoor activities."
Indonesian media praised Forestry Minister Jamaluddin
Suryohadikusumo for taking responsibility for the forest fires and
called for two colleagues to take similar action.
The Observer said Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare
Azwar Anas and Trade Minister Tunky Ariwibowo, were suffering from
"cabinet fatigue."
The two ministers dismissed the extent of the problem and said
Indonesia could not be blamed.
-=-=-
Want to tell us what you think about the ClariNews? Please feel
free to <> .