Indonesian haze reaches the Philippines

AFP AsiaOne 23 Oct 15;

MANILA - Haze from Indonesian forest fires has spread to the southern and central Philippines, disrupting air traffic and prompting warnings for residents to wear face masks, authorities said Friday.

The large southern Philippine island of Mindanao is more than 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from the nearest fires but the haze has become a worsening problem across the island over the past week, aviation authorities said.

It spread to the country's central islands of Cebu and Negros on Friday, disrupting air traffic, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio said.

Eight domestic flights have been cancelled and dozens delayed since the problem began on October 16, affecting thousands of passengers, he added.

On some occasions, pilots could not see the airstrip as they were coming in to land.

"If you cannot see the runway it is very dangerous. You cannot always depend on instruments," he told AFP.

Dense haze hung over Davao, Mindanao's largest city of 1.5 million people, on Friday afternoon, plunging it under an early twilight.

Its airport, one of those affected according to Apolonio, handles 48 flights a day.

With visibility down to 1.2 kilometres at some times during the day, far less than the usual 10 kilometres, aircraft are forced to circle and wait above the runways for up to an hour, according to Apolonio.

Apolonio said the flight delays were also disrupting the busy airport of capital Manila, with some Mindanao-bound flights being held back.

Because Manila airport is operating at its full capacity of 40 landings and take-offs per hour, any delay involving Mindanao flights disrupts the aircraft queue for the rest of the day, he added.

For nearly two months, dense haze produced by Indonesian slash-and-burn farmers have suffocated vast expanses of Southeast Asia.

This has caused rates of respiratory illnesses to soar, schools to close, and scores of flights and some international events to be cancelled.

Much of the burning is in peatlands being drained and cleared at a rapid rate to make way for agriculture.

The Philippines has not been badly impacted.

It may have worsened recently due to Typhoon Koppu, which hit the northern Philippines on October 18, drawing the haze towards it, state weather forecaster Manny Mendoza told AFP.

While the seasonal northeast monsoons are expected to push back some of the haze from Indonesia over the coming weeks, any storms hitting the Philippines the rest of the year could aggravate the problem, he said.

"We can't say at this point that the smoke and haze will go away soon. This is expected to continue," Mendoza said.

The haze was not so bad as to raise a medical alarm, but residents in affected areas are being advised to wear face masks, according to health department spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy.

"The content (of the smoke) is not that much but even small amounts of ash could trigger an asthma attack, or cardio-pulmonary obstructive disease," he told AFP.

Haze suspends operations at 6 airports
ABS-CBNnews.com 23 Oct 15;

Malaysia's iconic Petronas twin towers and Kuala Lumpur's skyline are shrouded in thick haze on Wednesday (Oct. 21). Fires raging across huge areas of Indonesia are spreading the haze to other Southeast Asian countries, including the southern portion of the Philippines. Manan Vatsyayana, AFP
MANILA - Six airports in Visayas and Mindanao suspended operations on Friday due to the haze from the ongoing forest fires in Indonesia.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said those affected were the Cotobato Airport, Mactan Airport in Cebu, Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental, Tamblan Airport in General Santos City, Zamboanga Airport, and Davao Airport.

CAAP did not issue a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) prohibiting general aviation flight operations as the interruption in airport operations is not expected to last the whole day

Operations at the six airports will resume once towers achieve clear visibility.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has yet to release an advisory on cancelled or delayed flights due to bad weather on today.

State weather bureau PAGASA earlier said the southwest monsoon enhanced by typhoon "Lando" pushed the haze from Indonesia towards the Philippines. [http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/10/20/15/indonesias-haze-reaches-philippines]

Indonesia has come under increased pressure from its neighbours to contain the forest fires caused by slash-and-burn agriculture practices, a report from Reuters said.

However, it has failed to put out the fires, with "hot spots" growing in eastern parts of the country and industry officials and analysts estimating the smoke will last until early 2016.

Indonesian scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research, Herry Purnomo said 30 million people had been affected by the haze this year. -- With a report from Henry Atuelan, radio dzMM


Wider area of Mindanao hit by haze than reported
Raul Dancel, The Straits Times AsiaOne 22 Oct 15;

Haze caused by Indonesia's wildfires has reached a far wider area in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao than earlier reported.

Thin layers of greyish cloud consistent with haze were observed yesterday in parts of Sarangani, South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces in the southern half of Mindanao, news network ABS- CBN reported.

Haze was earlier reported to have blanketed the cities of Davao and General Santos in southern Mindanao, and a third city, Cagayan de Oro, farther north of the island.

Weather officials said monsoon winds blowing north-east could be causing smoke and dust from nearly a thousand forest fires in Indonesia's Kalimantan region 1,000km away to drift towards Mindanao.

Wind patterns created by Typhoon Koppu, which pummelled the northern Philippines for four days from last Saturday, might have also created a pathway that carried the haze from Kaliman- tan to Mindanao.

Early this month, metropolitan Cebu in central Philippines was enveloped in a bluish-grey and unusually thick layer of haze for more than a week.

Meteorologists at the time said the haze had actually spread across Mindanao as well, but it was thickest and most visible in Cebu because of a pocket of air created by a tropical storm and local pollution over the city, home to over four million.

Cebu officials issued health advisories while the civil aviation authorities grounded small planes incapable of landing without pilot assistance.

The haze across Mindanao has not been as thick as in Cebu, and local officials said it does not pose any health risk.

"There is no reason to be alarmed," said weather forecaster Gerry Pedrico.

Dr Herry Purnomo, a scientist at Indonesia's Centre for International Forestry Research, said 30 million people in Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand have been affected by the haze so far this year.

"It is as bad as what happened in 1997, 1998 and 2006," he said.