Indonesia Fires Seen Flaring Again After Dry Spell
6/3/99
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Title: Indonesia Fires Seen Flaring Again After Dry Spell
Source: Reuters Limted
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: June 3, 1999
SINGAPORE, June 3 Satellite images have detected a significant
increase in ``hot spots'' or fires in Indonesia following a week-long
dry spell, Singapore's Ministry of Environment said on Thursday.
But neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia should escape prolonged smoke
haze from the fires as La Nina induced rains limited their spread,
an official from the Meteorological Service of Singapore (MSS) told a
news conference.
``It won't be like the prolonged smoke haze we saw in 1997,'' said
Wong Teo Suan, Deputy Director of the MSS.
Choking smog, mostly from fires in Indonesia, blanketed Southeast
Asia for months in 1997, creating health hazards and damaging
tourism.
The ministry said the latest hot spots were due mainly to plantation
fires.
``The satellite pictures have been sent to the Indonesian and
Malaysian authorities as part of the sub-regional co-operation to
deal with fires in Sumatra and Borneo,'' it said in a statement.
Wong said wind patterns were keeping the smoke haze from the fires,
which were mostly concentrated in Central Sumatra, away from
Singapore but were blowing them toward Kuala Lumpur.
The Malaysian government however dismissed fears that recent hazy
skies over the capital heralded a recurrence of the smog.
Environment minister Law Hieng Ding said reduced visibility in Kuala
Lumpur and other parts of Malaysia was normal during the annual dry
season which usually lasted until September.
``But there is nothing to panic about as the Air Pollutant Index
(API) is still below 100 which means moderate haze in affected
areas,'' Law was quoted by the Star newspaper as saying on Wednesday.
Malaysia's highest API reading on Wednesday was 87 in Klang near the
capital. API readings from 101 to 200 are considered unhealthy, 201
to 300 very unhealthy and 300 to 500 hazardous.
Law said Indonesia President B.J. Habibie was expected to announce
new measures this week to combat worsening forest fires in Sumatra,
Riau and Kalimantan.
He said Malaysian authorities had expressed concern to their
Indonesian counterparts over the recent increase in the number of hot
spots.
Wong said six out of eight international weather centres had forecast
a continuation of the wet La Nina phenomena to the end of this year.
The remaining two were calling for a return to normal weather.
Waters in the Pacific Ocean were below normal indicating that La Nina
was still very active, he said.
The dry season in Southeast Asia, which lasts from now to October,
would periodically be punctuated by rains.
But the rains were not seen in Central Sumatra in May, where in some
areas it was up to 50 percent below normal.
Fires in Indonesia in 1997 destroyed five million hectares (12
million acres) of forest, agricultural land and bush, causing $4.4
billion in damage.
This led to closer cooperation among Southeast Asian countries such
as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, which were the
countries worst-hit by choking smog that year.