JAKARTA, Oct. 29 (UPI) — An airborne haze spreading across southeast Asia, caused by the burning of forests in Indonesia, has been partially cleared by persistent rain.
Deliberately set and illegal fires to clear land so that palm oil plantations can be established annually cause a smoky haze to settle over the area. But a long dry season this year, coupled with the climatological effect of El Nino, have made this year’s haze the worst on record.
Setting fire to the foliage to grow trees bearing palm oil, Indonesia’s largest export, is typically less expensive than bulldozing the land.
Much of southeast Asia, from Singapore to eastern Indonesia and western Australia, is under a month-long cloud of air pollution. Schools have been closed, outdoor events have been canceled and over 500,000 people have suffered from respiratory illnesses; 19 have died in Indonesia. Singapore’s Pollutants Standards Index, an air quality reading, has veered into counts regarded as hazardous.
On an index in which 300 is hazardous, the Kalimantan region of Indonesia, where the fires are concentrated, scored a 2,300 reading in late September.
Rain, beginning Tuesday, dampened many of the fires. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management spokesman, said satellite imagery indicated the number of forest fire “hot spots” declined from 1,578 Monday to 291 Wednesday.
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