Jun 21 2013, 04:27 AM
Singapore urged people to remain indoors amid unprecedented levels of air pollution on Thursday as a smoky haze wrought by forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia worsened dramatically.
![[Image: singaporeans-masks-haze.jpg]](http://www.channelnewsasia.com/image/718048/1371713813000/large16x9/768/432/singaporeans-masks-haze.jpg)
Malaysia closed 200 schools and banned open burning in some areas.
Lee Hsien Loong, the country’s prime minister, warned that the haze could “easily last for several weeks and quite possibly longer”.
The Pollutant Standards Index, Singapore's main measure for air pollution, surged to a record reading of 371, breaching the "hazardous" classification that can aggravate respiratory ailments. The previous all-time high before this week was in 1997, when the index reached 226.
The hazardous reading lasted three hours before easing to 253 in the evening, still "very unhealthy".
Smog fuelled by raging Indonesian blazes has hit Singapore andMalaysia many times, often in the middle of the year, but the severity of this week's conditions has strained diplomatic ties. Officials in Singapore say Jakarta must do more to halt fires on Sumatra island started by plantation owners and farmers to clear land cheaply.
"This is now the worst haze that Singapore has ever faced," Singapore's Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wrote on his Facebook page. "No country or corporation has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and well-being."
The Indonesian government hit back, accusing Singapore of acting "like a child" and insisting it was doing everything it could to stop the forest fires.
"Singapore should not be behaving like a child and making all this noise," Agung Laksono, the minister coordinating Indonesia's response, told reporters. "This is not what the Indonesian nation wants, it is because of nature."
His comments came as Indonesia's foreign ministry hosted an emergency meeting in Jakarta attended by the chief executive of Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA), Andrew Tan.
The haze has shrouded the city-state's skyscrapers in a pall of noxious fumes and posed numerous inconveniences for Singaporeans, some of whom complained of coughs and covered their faces with handkerchiefs while walking outdoors.
Flight controllers at Singapore's Changi Airport were instructed to take precautions because of lower visibility, while McDonald's said it was temporarily halting delivery service to protect its workers' health.
Some hospitals shut windows in wards with elderly patients to keep out the acrid odour of burning. Sports organisers cancelled several football and sailing competitions this weekend.
Mr Lee advised residents to stay indoors as far as possible, adding that "we will get through this together."
He told a news conference on Thursday that the haze was expected to persist for an unknown number of days because of wind and weather conditions. He announced that a government panel was being formed to protect public health and the city-state's economic resilience.
Miriam Clark, a British teacher living in Singapore, said: “As you go out, it’s like a bonfire is burning all around you. You can taste it and smell it and it sticks in the back of your throat.”
In neighbouring Malaysia, air quality remained relatively unaffected in the country's biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, but a southern state that borders Singapore also recorded "hazardous" pollution in one district, where 200 schools were ordered shut through at least Friday. The Department of Environment banned open burning and made it punishable by up to five years in prison in three states separated from Sumatra by the Malacca Strait.
Indonesian officials have defended their response to the haze, saying the government is educating farmers about alternatives to traditional slash-and-burn agriculture. Some Indonesian officials have also suggested that some fires might be blamed on Singaporean and Malaysian companies involved in Indonesia's plantation industry.
Edited for Telegraph.co.uk by Barney Henderson
[SIZE=10px]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...-haze.html[/SIZE]
![[Image: singapore-skyline-haze.jpg]](http://www.channelnewsasia.com/image/712990/1371459344000/large16x9/768/432/singapore-skyline-haze.jpg)
![[Image: BM8_t7qCAAARTiE.jpg]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BM8_t7qCAAARTiE.jpg)
Haze is terrible. It literally is getting harder to breathe around here.
A few birds were found dead recently around my area.
Malaysia closed 200 schools and banned open burning in some areas.
Lee Hsien Loong, the country’s prime minister, warned that the haze could “easily last for several weeks and quite possibly longer”.
The Pollutant Standards Index, Singapore's main measure for air pollution, surged to a record reading of 371, breaching the "hazardous" classification that can aggravate respiratory ailments. The previous all-time high before this week was in 1997, when the index reached 226.
The hazardous reading lasted three hours before easing to 253 in the evening, still "very unhealthy".
Smog fuelled by raging Indonesian blazes has hit Singapore andMalaysia many times, often in the middle of the year, but the severity of this week's conditions has strained diplomatic ties. Officials in Singapore say Jakarta must do more to halt fires on Sumatra island started by plantation owners and farmers to clear land cheaply.
"This is now the worst haze that Singapore has ever faced," Singapore's Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wrote on his Facebook page. "No country or corporation has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and well-being."
The Indonesian government hit back, accusing Singapore of acting "like a child" and insisting it was doing everything it could to stop the forest fires.
"Singapore should not be behaving like a child and making all this noise," Agung Laksono, the minister coordinating Indonesia's response, told reporters. "This is not what the Indonesian nation wants, it is because of nature."
His comments came as Indonesia's foreign ministry hosted an emergency meeting in Jakarta attended by the chief executive of Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA), Andrew Tan.
The haze has shrouded the city-state's skyscrapers in a pall of noxious fumes and posed numerous inconveniences for Singaporeans, some of whom complained of coughs and covered their faces with handkerchiefs while walking outdoors.
Flight controllers at Singapore's Changi Airport were instructed to take precautions because of lower visibility, while McDonald's said it was temporarily halting delivery service to protect its workers' health.
Some hospitals shut windows in wards with elderly patients to keep out the acrid odour of burning. Sports organisers cancelled several football and sailing competitions this weekend.
Mr Lee advised residents to stay indoors as far as possible, adding that "we will get through this together."
He told a news conference on Thursday that the haze was expected to persist for an unknown number of days because of wind and weather conditions. He announced that a government panel was being formed to protect public health and the city-state's economic resilience.
Miriam Clark, a British teacher living in Singapore, said: “As you go out, it’s like a bonfire is burning all around you. You can taste it and smell it and it sticks in the back of your throat.”
In neighbouring Malaysia, air quality remained relatively unaffected in the country's biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, but a southern state that borders Singapore also recorded "hazardous" pollution in one district, where 200 schools were ordered shut through at least Friday. The Department of Environment banned open burning and made it punishable by up to five years in prison in three states separated from Sumatra by the Malacca Strait.
Indonesian officials have defended their response to the haze, saying the government is educating farmers about alternatives to traditional slash-and-burn agriculture. Some Indonesian officials have also suggested that some fires might be blamed on Singaporean and Malaysian companies involved in Indonesia's plantation industry.
Edited for Telegraph.co.uk by Barney Henderson
[SIZE=10px]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...-haze.html[/SIZE]
Double post
Double post
Haze is terrible. It literally is getting harder to breathe around here.
A few birds were found dead recently around my area.
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