Saturday, October 07, 2006

Haze in Singapore hits unhealthy levels

Damn Indonesian farmers have done it. The haze that they created have now reached unhealthy levels in Singapore. From Channel NewsAsia:
Singapore's air quality enters unhealthy range with 3-hour PSI of 130 on Saturday at 10am .

This is the highest PSI reading for the year.

Satellite pictures on Thursday showed 228 hotspots in Sumatra.

Southwesterly winds have carried the smoke northeast to neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and even parts of southern Thailand.

The NEA advises people with existing heart or respiratory ailments to reduce physical exertion and outdoor activity.
The PSI readings for today have been steadily increasing. It was 89 at 7am, 101 at 8am, 119 at 9am and then it reached 130 at 10am. The NEA is now providing hourly PSI readings on its website.

The haze has also reached unhealthy levels in Malaysia. From Sun2Surf:
More areas in Malaysia are getting unhealthy as the haze from Indonesia takes its toll in the last 24 hours.

The number of areas hitting unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) levels of between 101 and 200 is up from eight on Tuesday to 11 today (Oct 4, 2006).

The Department of Environment (DOE) has reported an overall drop in air quality nationwide.

The unhealthy 11 listed by the DOE as at 11am yesterday are Nilai (109) and Seremban (107) in Negeri Sembilan, eight areas in Sarawak and Tawau, Sabah, as compared with eight at 5pm Tuesday.

The highest reading of 187 was recorded in Petrajaya, Sarawak, followed by Samarahan (177) and Kuching (171).

Thirteen locations were categorised as having good API (0-51) while 27 were recorded as having moderate readings (51-100).

The highest reading in the Klang Valley was recorded in Putrajaya and Kuala Selangor (83), followed by Kajang (80) and Kuala Lumpur (77).

Petaling Jaya, blanketed with a fog-like hazy condition throughout the day, hit API of 72.
With the Indonesian authorities not doing much to prevent the forest fires started by local farmers and timber and oil palm plantation companies, it looks like we in the region have to continue to suffer from the sins of our neighbour.

Previously: I hate the haze!

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