ID :
382319
Sat, 10/03/2015 - 07:22
Auther :

Indonesia Expects Haze To End Next Month

JAKARTA, Indonesia Oct 3 (Bernama) -- The haze caused by forest and plantation fires in Indonesia is expected to end by next month with the beginning of the rainy season soon. Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Willem Rampangilei was quoted by local media as saying that with the weather shift, the fires in the peatlands would be put out and the haze which has plagued Malaysia and Singapore for the last two months would be eliminated. He said the haze in Sumatra was also decreasing now due to two days of rain in several areas over the island. The rainy season starts in late October or early November and it will help extinguish the fire, he said. "The biggest challenge this time in dealing with forest and agricultural land fires was the peat fires and dry weather," he added. Meanwhile, according to the republic's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency website, the Air Pollutants Index (API) reading in Palangkaraya in Central Kaliamantan was still at the hazardous level while in Jambi and Palembang, it remained at very unhealthy levels. The API reading in Palangkaraya was more than 1,300 since 3 pm Friday and has not dropped until 6pm. The haze situation in Palangkaraya has paralysed all daily activities and all schools have been closed since Monday after the area was declared a 'haze emergency'. Jambi recorded API readings of up to 1,000 early this morning, before dropping to 552 at 6 pm, while in Palembang the API reading this morning was 673 before dropping to 315 at 6pm. -- BERNAMA

X