Haze from forest fires in Indonesia speads to neighbouring countries
A satellite image showed thick haze from a forest fire in Indonesia spreading into Malacca Strait, Singapore and Malaysia on September 14, according to the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency.
Fire is raging at a forest in Kampar, Riau province, Indonesia on September 9, 2019. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – A satellite image showed thick haze from a forest fire in Indonesiaspreading into Malacca Strait, Singapore and Malaysia on September 14, according to the Indonesian meteorology and geophysicsagency.
The Himawari 8 SM satellite detected haze moving from Indonesia's Sumatra island to Singaporeand Malaysia, and from Indonesia's West Kalimantan to Serawak of Malaysia, theagency said in a statement.
Worsening haze forced many schools inRiau and Jambi provinces to shut down. Health offices in both provinces saidmore than 300,000 people have suffered respiratory illnesses since the haze began. More people have also been seeking medicalhelp in recent weeks.
Forest fires often occur in Indonesiaas growers use fire to clear lands for palm oil, paper plantations andother crops. But thefires often rage out of control especially during the dry season.
Indonesia has deployed about 10,000soldiers, police and personnel from disaster management agency to fightthe fires, which razed across the country, with more than half in the provincesof Riau, Jambi, South Sumatram West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and SouthKalimantan.
Malaysia hassent half a million face masks to the eastern state of Serawak where airpollution levels spiked while Singapore advised people to avoid outdooractivities.
The forest fire task force of Indonesia’s Riau province has deployed four helicopters to douse the forest fires raging across the southern part of the province on Sumatra Island.
As many as 39,277 residents in Riau province in Sumatra Island, Indonesia, have suffered from respiratory problems due to the escalating smoke haze caused by forest fires, according to head of the provincial Health Office Mimi Nazir.
Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar said on September 13 that some forest fires in its territory had started on land used by subsidiaries of Malaysian companies.
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Fire is raging at a forest in Kampar, Riau province, Indonesia on September 9, 2019. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
