Indonesia: Tens of thousands sick due to haze

Jon Afrizal and Yuliasri Perdani, The Jakarta Post 15 Mar 14;

The severe haze, which has blanketed Riau and other provinces in Sumatra over the past two months, has taken its toll on locals as thousands across the island suffer from various haze-related illnesses as the air quality continues to deteriorate.

According to Antara news agency, the Riau Health Agency recorded on Friday over 55,000 residents with illnesses ranging from acute respiratory infections, pneumonia and skin and eye irritations

The highest number of cases were recorded in Pekanbaru, followed by Rokan Hilir, Bengkalis, Dumai, Rokan Hulu, Siak, Pelalawan, Indragiri Hulu, Indragiri Hilir, Meranti and Kuantan Sengingi.

Air pollution standards index (ISPU) equipment installed in Pekanbaru indicated the air quality level had reached 310 on the pollutant standards index (PSI), while the ISPU in Siak regency showed a PSI of 388.

At Dumai city, Duri Camp and Duri Field the ISPU equipment recorded a pollutant level of 500 PSI, in Pekanbaru city the level was 345 PSI, while in Siak Indrapura the pollutant level stood at 500 PSI.

Under normal conditions, the PSI range is between zero and 50, while above 300 is considered hazardous.

“Residents are advised to minimize outdoor activities,” Riau Health Agency Zainal Arifin said as quoted by Antara.

Severe air pollution has prompted expatriates working in a number of companies in Riau to return to their respective countries. Residents, especially pregnant women and children, have also evacuated to a number of areas with better air quality.

Haze has also hit Bengkulu, forcing fishermen to halt their fishing activities due to poor visibility.

In response to the worsening haze situation, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched on Friday a three-week integrated operation to combat pervasive forest fires and haze in Riau, with the Indonesian Military (TNI) deploying a brigade of soldiers to put out fires raging across the forests and peatlands.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Syamsul Maarif has been tasked with heading the operation.

“The three main objectives of the integrated emergency operation are tackling the fires and haze, providing health services to affected individuals and maintaining law and order,” Yudhoyono said during a teleconference in Central Java Police headquarters in Semarang.

“We have decided that the TNI will add one brigade, made up of two Army battalions, one Marine battalion, and a battalion of Paskhas [Air Force’s special forces] […] One brigade of soldiers will be enough to manually extinguish the fires,” he added.

Thicker haze affecting Bengkulu
The Jakarta Post 15 Mar 14;

The thick haze that has been wreaking havoc in Riau province has seeped onto the neighboring province of Bengkulu, reducing visibility to 500 meters and disrupting flights and the local fishing industry.

“It has been a week since the haze descended on Bengkulu,” said Ali Basra, a fisherman from the Malabero Beach Market in Bengkulu, on Saturday.

“The seasonal fog is nothing like this,” he said, adding that the fishermen did not dare to venture out to sea because of the poor visibility.

Haris Sahid Hakim from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) station at Fatmawati Soekarno Airport, Bengkulu, has stated that visibility is likely to improve in the early afternoon only to worse later on, adding that the haze had disrupted flying conditions around Bengkulu and the western coast of Sumatra.

Sustri, an air traffic controller at Fatmawati airport, said three flights from Jakarta to Bengkulu had already been disrupted.

“Due to poor visibility, the Garuda, Lion Air and Citilink airlines have been unable to land,” she said, as quoted by Antara News Agency. (tjs/dic)

Pekanbaru Residents Flee Haze-Hit City for Hometowns
Vidya Dahlan Jakarta Globe 15 Mar 14;

People on motorbikes wear masks in Pekanbaru, Riau on March 14, 2014. According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, haze pollution has reached hazardous levels in parts of Sumatra’s Riau province, triggering respiratory and skin problems in about 60,000 people. (EPA Photo/Forza Alfachrozie)

As the haze from forest fires across much of Riau pushes the air quality index to dangerous levels, residents are opting to leave the province, while those staying behind are trying to cope amid a dearth of government advisories.

Yolanda Eviyonita, a third-year student at Riau University who is originally from West Sumatra, said on Friday that the rush to leave Pekanbaru, the provincial capital, was so intense that it took her six hours just to get a bus ticket to her hometown of Bukittinggi.

“I waited from 8 a.m. to get a ticket to Bukittinggi. Every trip there was fully booked,” she told the Jakarta Globe. “I finally managed to get a ticket at 2 p.m. and left the city at half past two.”

She was among those heeding the advice of Pekanbaru Mayor Firdaus on Thursday for those not from the city to return to their hometowns until the air quality had improved.

The city administration has called on people to use masks when outdoors, but residents say there has been no medical advisory on the dangers of prolonged inhalation of the heavily polluted air.

“There’s been no awareness campaign whatsoever by the city administration about what the haze could do to our health if we keep breathing it in,” said Dolly Enniza, a homemaker. “The officials just tell us to use masks whenever we go outdoors.”

Dolly said the heads of her neighborhood unit and community unit were constantly reminding residents to keep their children indoors to prevent them developing respiratory problems.

For the past week, Dolly said that her children had also been instructed by their schools to stay at home. The air quality index has hit hazardous levels in the past three days.

“The smell of the smoke comes into the house through the ventilation. We don’t even see the sun anymore,” Dolly said.

She added the smoke hurt her nose and eyes, even when she was in her car.

Hamdan Abubakar, who has lived in Pekanbaru for two years, said the local people seemed to have become accustomed to the annual haze problem.

“Before this they never seemed to be bothered by the haze because they have grown accustomed to it for years,” he said on Friday.

“Now people are angry because they can hardly see anything. Today, from around 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., the haze was so thick that visibility dropped to about 50 meters when I was out driving.”

Hamdan said he planning to leave the city as soon as possible.

He blamed logging companies for causing the haze, and suggested that the government bill them for the cost of cloud-seeding efforts to induce rains to combat the forest fires raging across the province.

“They are the ones who have benefited from their permits, so they should pay for weather modification to make artificial rains. The people of Riau are just victims,” Hamdan said.

He commended residents for taking to the streets to hand out face masks for free to motorists at traffic lights.

“Students, volunteers and NGOs and political parties are handing out free masks,” he said.