TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Haze returns to Sumatra after three weeks of fresh air

After just three weeks of breathing smog-free air, residents of Sumatra once again have to stick it out as pollution from forest and peatland fires hit several regions of the island on Monday

Kharishar Kahfi, Yulia Savitri and Jon Afrizal (The Jakarta Post)
Palembang/Jambi
Wed, October 16, 2019

Share This Article

Change Size

Haze returns to Sumatra after three weeks of fresh air

A

span>After just three weeks of breathing smog-free air, residents of Sumatra once again have to stick it out as pollution from forest and peatland fires hit several regions of the island on Monday.

The haze has forced local administrations to close schools and cancel flights because of health concerns and low visibility. Authorities are working to extinguish wildfires in several provinces, including through cloud-seeding operations to make it rain.

One of the affected regions is South Sumatra, which is suffering from the most extreme haze throughout this year’s dry season, according to the local office of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

The sky over Palembang was dark yellow on Sunday morning as haze in the provincial capital had reduced visibility to around 50 meters. This marks a change from the previous haze wave in September, when the smog only thickened between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.

An official with the Palembang BMKG office, Bambang Beny Setiaji, said the haze originated from fires southeast of Palembang. According to the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN), 786 hot spots were detected in South Sumatra on Monday, most of which were located in the regency of Ogan Komering Ilir.

Residents are concerned the smog will affect their health. The Palembang Education Agency has instructed kindergartens, elementary schools and junior high schools across the city to send students home on Monday for an indefinite period. The haze has forced authorities to delay seven takeoffs from Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport.

The haze remained on Tuesday in several areas in Palembang. Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said new hot spots had emerged again on Tuesday.

“In the past two days thick haze has blanketed Palembang, especially in the morning from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and at night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.,” Siti said on Tuesday as reported by tribunnews.com, adding that the air pollution index in the city had reached an unhealthy level.

She explained the return of smog had been caused by several factors including the wind blowing toward Palembang city and the efforts to induce artificial rainfall using weather modification technology (TMC) having not gone as planned.

“We have conducted 30 TMC efforts and rainfall has occurred several times but it has not yet been able to [extinguish] the fire at the bigger hot spots,” she said, adding that the authorities had also deployed personnel to maximize the efforts on the ground.

Similar conditions were reported in Jambi with a reading of 201 — categorized as “very unhealthy” — on the United States Air Quality Index (AQI) over the weekend.

“We have instructed all schools across the city, from kindergarten to junior high school, to allow students to [turn up for class] at 8:30 a.m. [as opposed to the usual 7 a.m.],” Jambi administration spokesman Abu Bakar said on Monday.

He added that all outdoor activities, such as flag ceremonies and sport classes, had been suspended because of the thick haze.

Jambi resident Yeni said the smog affected her financially, as she had to buy special equipment to protect her.

“I have had to buy glasses for Rp 15,000 [US$1.06] to protect my eyes so they won’t get watery. I also had to buy a mask for Rp 7,000 as well as an oxygen can for Rp 70,000,” she told The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding that the oxygen helped her whenever she had trouble breathing.

The haze from Riau, South Sumatra and Jambi also reached West Sumatra, which had been haze-free for more than three weeks thanks to ongoing rain in the province.

Provinces across the island have been struggling with haze as forest and land fires worsened because of a weak El Niño since June.

El Niño is a climate pattern linked to warming waters in the central and eastern areas of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The weather phenomenon is known to trigger an extension of the dry season in Indonesia, which can increase the risk of wildfires.

According to data from the Environment and Forestry Ministry, wildfires have burnt 328,724 hectares of land between January and August this year. Around 89,000 ha of the burnt land is peatland.


— Rizal Harahap from Pekanbaru and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb from Padang contributed to this story.

{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.