T

hick haze caused by lingering forest and land fires in Riau province may force local authorities to send students home due to poor air quality.

Based on a report from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency'€™s (BMKG) Pekanbaru station, thick haze has for the last two days contaminated Pekanbaru and Dumai'€™s atmosphere, leading to visibility of only 2 to 3 kilometers.

'€œThe air in Pekanbaru and Dumai is not healthy,'€ station head Sugarin said, adding that the haze was thickest in the morning and evening.

He blamed the haze on forest and land fires in a number of regencies and cities in Riau.

He said the Terra and Aqua satellites on Monday morning detected 25 hotspots. Of them, 12 were detected in Indragiri Hilir, seven in Indragiri Hulu, three in Bengkalis, two in Dumai and one in Pelalawan.

'€œOf them, 20 were fire spots with 70 percent reliability, indicating that there were already forest and land fires there,'€ he said.

Responding to the decrease in air quality, the Riau provincial administration distributed 2,000 face masks to people for free.

'€œWe also instructed health agencies in regencies and cities with unhealthy air quality to mobilize all the community health centers in their respective regions to distribute masks to people,'€ Riau Health Agency head Andra Sjafril said.

The provincial health agency, according to Andra, also issued a warning for schools and parents to protect children from the impacts of haze.

'€œThey are strongly recommended to wear masks while participating in teaching and learning activities,'€
he said.

Andra recommended that schools send their students home should the air quality continue to decrease and endanger the health of students.

'€œIf the situation does not get better tomorrow, students must stay home. If the conditions are the
same as today, they may go to school but must put on masks to protect them from the dangers of the haze,'€ he said.

According to provisional data, 1,022 people have suffered from health problems because of the haze since the beginning of July. Of them, 757 suffered from acute respiratory infection, 160 from skin irritation, 50 from eye irritation, 29 from asthma and 26 from pneumonia.

Andra said the figures had increased over the last few days as the air quality in the region worsened. Most of the sufferers live in regions with numerous hotspots such as Bengkalis, Rokan Hilir, Dumai city and Pekanbaru.

'€œThat'€™s why we do not tire of reminding people to reduce outdoor activities while the haze is still there,'€ he said.

Separately, Pekanbaru Regent Firdaus said it was not yet time for him to issue a policy on sending students home, arguing that the haze was still at a tolerable level.

However, he acknowledged the dangers of haze and its impacts on people'€™s health and children'€™s intelligence.

'€œThe impacts may not be directly visible but will emerge in 15 to 20 years,'€ he said.

He therefore called on parents to take good care of their children during the haze. '€œIt'€™s no use if schools send them home but they are let outside in the haze to play.'€