Cheryl Ong Straits Times 25 Oct 10;
THE haze that blanketed Singapore for most of last week cleared up yesterday, with the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading going as low as 13 in the evening.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said the islandwide 24-hour PSI reading was 44 at 4pm, bringing air quality back to the 'Good' range.
An NEA spokesman said heavy rain on Saturday in Singapore and Sumatra, including parts of Riau province and the Strait of Malacca, had a big part to play in the improved situation yesterday.
Associate Professor Matthias Roth, who is deputy head of the geography department at the National University of Singapore, said the wind blowing towards Singapore is no longer just from Indonesia, but from other directions as well.
This, he said, could have led to the improvement in the haze situation here at the weekend.
The haze has been attributed to Indonesian farmers from the south Sumatran provinces of Jambi and Riau, who are burning forested areas to prepare for the planting season.
The haze may persist for the next two days if the burning goes on, the NEA said.
However, these fires, or hot spots, are tough to track.
Said Prof Roth: 'It is possible that the hot spot count has reduced during the last couple of days.
'This, however, is difficult to verify because forest fires cannot be detected by satellites during cloudy or overcast conditions.'
Haze in moderate range as 10,000 runners hit the streets
Shaffiq Alkhatib Today Online 25 Oct 10;
SINGAPORE - More than 10,000 people took part in the Nike City 10K Run (picture), which flagged off next to the Marina Bay Floating Platform yesterday morning.
Many decided to sweat it out after finding out that the air quality was in the good range before the start of the race.
The Pollutant Standards Index or PSI was below 40 till noon.
The air quality becomes moderate once the PSI hits 51.
Heavy showers in various parts of the island in the afternoon helped clear the haze to some extent.
At 8pm yesterday, the 3-hour PSI measured 18, which is in the "good" range. Many participants felt that the haze had little effect on their performance during the race.
"Actually, my timing was even better. I've been preparing for quite a long time. I didn't want it to go to waste by not running.
"So, I thought, why not just go ahead and run. Plus I'd already paid for it," said one of the faster runners.
The participants were energised by four vibrant entertainment zones, featuring four genres of music - dance, pop, rock and hip hop - as they sped along the race route in a bid to raise US$30,000 ($39,000) for the Singapore Children's Society.
In a related development, more people are turning to Chinese herbs as a preventive measure against the haze, some traditional Chinese medicine practitioners told Channel NewsAsia. Sales of herbs over the past two days have soared by nearly 40 per cent, said the practitioners.
They have also seen an increase in the number of patients, suffering from dry eyes and throats, by about 20 per cent.
The TCM practitioners said herbal concoctions made from chrysanthemum can help with dry eyes, while liquorice can soothe sore throats.
