Jakarta/Batam – Haze from land-clearing fires in jungle-clad Kalimantan and Sumatra worsened Thursday, disrupting travel and shutting schools across the northern part of the country as residents donned masks to cope with the bad air.
Satellite images taken over Borneo on Wednesday showed that although the number of hot spots – large areas with high temperatures indicating fires – had dropped in West and Central Kalimantan to 395, the number in South Kalimantan had more than quadrupled from a day earlier to 561.
"The governor has ordered all schools, from kindergarten to high school, to close as of today (Thursday) and only reopen Monday," West Kalimantan local official Emmy Putrimas, from the provincial capital Pontianak, told AFP on Thursday. She said masks were being distributed on streets to help people cope with deteriorating air quality.
In the Central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya, schools were closed for three days starting Tuesday. An aide to the head of the local education office said it was likely closures would be extended.
In Pontianak, visibility was down to less than 300 meters while in Palangkaraya, it was just 200 meters, meteorological officials there said.
Health officials in both provinces have said that more people have been seeking medical help for respiratory ailments in recent weeks.
Haze has also shrouded parts of Riau Islands, as the number of hot spots in Lampung, Jambi and South Sumatra has continued to increase.
The head of the Batam Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Batam, Herry Saroso, said Thursday haze was still threatening the island.
Based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite survey, the number of hot spots has increased from less than 100 to 257 hot spots in the past two days, he said. "The increase in the number of hot spots has made the Riau Islands become a victim of the haze," Herry said.
The choking smoke has also spread to neighboring Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In Malaysia's Sarawak state, air quality remained unhealthy in most areas, with the air pollution index readings of between 106 to 188. The index considers haze levels of 100-200 to be unhealthy.
"At the moment, it's better than yesterday," Sarawak deputy chief minister George Chan told Reuters. "We have undertaken cloud-seeding three days ago."
Travel was also affected. "The helicopter service, a key mode of transport in Sarawak, has been stopped due to poor visibility," an official with the Department of Civil Aviation in Sarawak's capital Kuching told AFP.
On Thursday, the haze had spread 3,600 kilometers to smother islands in the western Pacific, authorities there said. In the US-administered Northern Mariana Islands, the Emergency Management Office said the Indonesian fires were the source of haze over the islands.
In Guam, near to the Northern Marianas, acting governor Tim Villagomez said the haze was likely to persist for several days, AFP reported. Motorists were warned to take extra care because of the poor visibility.
In 1997-98 the haze cost the Southeast Asian region an estimated US$9 billion by disrupting air travel and other business activities.
Forest fires have become a regular occurrence during the dry season here but in the last decade the situation has worsened, with timber and plantation firms often blamed for deliberately starting fires to cut land clearing costs.