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Haze worsening in Sumatra, Kalimantan provinces
Take this: Doctors from the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) distribute masks to motorists in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Thursday
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Take this: Doctors from the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) distribute masks to motorists in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Thursday. They informed motorists about how to wear masks and protect themselves from the haze that has blanketed Riau and other provinces.(Antara/Rony Muharrman) (IDI) distribute masks to motorists in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Thursday. They informed motorists about how to wear masks and protect themselves from the haze that has blanketed Riau and other provinces.(Antara/Rony Muharrman)
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span class="inline inline-center">Take this: Doctors from the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) distribute masks to motorists in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Thursday. They informed motorists about how to wear masks and protect themselves from the haze that has blanketed Riau and other provinces.(Antara/Rony Muharrman)
Haze thickened on Thursday in many parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, forcing local authorities to temporarily shut down schools and airport operators to cancel flights.
In West Sumatra, thick haze descended over the province beginning from the morning.
'This is really concerning. It's never been like this before in Padang,' Yuni of Ulak Karang, Padang, West Sumatra, said on Thursday.
The visibility at Minangkabau International Airport (BIM) was only 800 meters for a little while before increasing again to 1,000 meters.
'There has been increasing intensity of haze since the morning, but it fluctuates, and that is why it is still fine, at certain times, to continue flights,' said Budi Iman Samiaji, observation and information section head of the Padang branch of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
He said the haze had come from neighboring South Sumatra and Jambi provinces, where 168 and 18 hot spots had been detected, respectively. Strong winds had caused the haze to thicken in West Sumatra.
Budi also said that unless the sources of the forest fires were extinguished, rain that might fall over West Sumatra within the next two days would not effectively reduce the haze in the province.
Separately, in Agam regency, the local education agency told kindergartens to temporarily shut down for an undetermined amount of time.
Isra, the secretary for the regency's education, youth and sports agency, said that if the haze worsened, elementary schools would follow suit.
The same measure was also taken by the Payakumbuh city education agency. The agency sent home kindergarten and elementary school students due to worsening air quality in the municipality.
Worsening air quality prompted the rapid response team of PT Semen Padang to distribute 5,000 masks to its employees in three different locations. The company also ordered an additional 10,000 masks in case conditions worsened.
In Medan, North Sumatra, people also complained of the thickening haze coming to the region from neighboring provinces.
Danden, 40, a motorized pedicab driver from Padang Bulan, Medan, said that haze had been thickening in the region for the last two days, forcing him to put on mask while working outdoors.
'Without a mask, I cannot breathe easily,' Danden told The Jakarta Post.
Thick haze had decreased visibility at Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang regency along with other airports in North Sumatra including Ferdinand Lumban Tobing Airport in Sibolga city and Aek Godang Airport in Padang Sidempuan regency.
Local BMKG stations reported that visibility at Kualanamu on Thursday, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., ranged between 700 and 1,200 meters. At Aek Godang, visibility stood at 500 meters.
'From yesterday until today, the Aek Godang and Pinangsori airports have not served flights because of thick haze,' Deassy Eirene Doloksaribu, of BMKG's Kualanamu station, said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's central bank evacuated the families of its staff at a regional capital in Kalimantan, as haze from forest fires reached hazardous levels on the island, Bloomberg reported.
Bank Indonesia paid for the families in Pontianak, West Kalimantan province, to move to the coast further north, where sea breezes and air conditioning reduced the severity of the smoky air, said Dwi Suslamanto, head of the central bank in West Kalimantan.
Around 125,000 people in Indonesia are suffering health issues related to the haze, Willem Rampangilei, the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said on Thursday.
'We can't rely on human efforts to manage this disaster,' said Dwi, who has asked Bank Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta for supplies of clean water. 'Our only hope is for rain, and for the people who started the fires not to repeat what they did.'
Pollution from the burning of Indonesian forests has been felt most acutely in Kalimantan and Sumatra, shutting down schools and leading to an increase in respiratory illnesses. President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is investigating more than 100 companies with fires on their concessions, and the disaster agency aims to extinguish the fires by early November.
A gauge of tiny air-pollution particles reached 989 in Palangkaraya in Kalimantan, and 950 in Palembang on Sumatra, almost three times the 350 level considered hazardous, the BMKG said on its website. In Singapore, a three-hour pollution index was at a 'unhealthy' level on Thursday.
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