Every year, in the dry season, farmers in Sumatra, Indonesia burn huge swathes of forest to clear land for palm-oil plantations. This is illegal. It is abetted by large palm oil companies (form Malaysia, and Singapore, included). And the Indonesian government is not very proactive about it.
This year is the WORST year on record. Air quality is measured using the Pollutant Standard Index (PSI). A value of 200 is considered "Very Unhealthy". A value of 300 is considered "Hazardous". Right now the current reading is 400! The air is terrible. I've bought a face mask, and am regularly washing my eyes with eye drops and using nasal spray. Trying to stay indoors as much as possible. See the photos here of the view of the haze from my flat at the upper heights of Chinatown.
Here some info from our National Environment Agency:
http://www.nea.gov.sg/psi/
Here is a real-time update of the PSI:
http://dashsell.com/sgpsi
Here is a news story, with an interesting before-and-after photo.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22982018
And some sattelite images of the Haze from NASA:
http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/the-haze-singapore/story/haze-watch-nasa-captures-stunning-image-fumes-billowing-sumat
yuk - hope you are doing ok. I grew up in the LA area during the 50's & 60's and smog frequently obscured the mountains. things got much better when they took lead out of gasoline. Hope you are doing well otherwise. We had a nice dinner with Angie and Lionel last night - beautiful June evening in Encinitas. Wish you were here. Sheila
ReplyDeleteHi... Well, we had a clearer weekend, as the winds shifted and blew the smoke and ash in a different direction. Though, we will probably see more haze soon. Some expect weeks or months of these conditions, off and on.. it is a real mess!
DeleteI miss the clean sea air of Encinitas!
Thanks, and take care. Alek