Fires in Indonesia that have blanketed Singapore and Malaysia in thick smog eased yesterday after heavy rain, boosting hopes of an end to Southeast Asia’s worst air pollution crisis in years.
The news came as a report said the crisis had claimed its first victim, with the death of an asthmatic woman in southern Malaysia, which has been badly affected.
The smog from slash-and-burn agricultural fires on Sumatra Island pushed haze levels to a record high in Singapore last week, shrouding residential buildings and downtown skyscrapers.
Favorable winds have since cleared the air over the city-state, but southern Malaysia remains choked by smoke.
Indonesia deployed thousands of reinforcements on Tuesday to fight the fires, which are centered in Riau Province. They are backed by aircraft dropping water and chemically inducing rain by cloud-seeding.
Their efforts were helped when rain fell late on Tuesday and early yesterday in several areas of Riau, officials and residents said.
Yesterday morning, the number of fire hotspots had fallen to 54 from 265 the previous day, national disaster agency official Agus Wibowo said from Riau.
“The rain has definitely helped our efforts,” he said. “With the improving weather on our side, we are taking the opportunity to quickly fight the blazes on land.”
The fires have been hard to put out as they are burning under the surface of carbon-rich peat, meaning hoses need to be pushed into the ground to douse the flames.
Conditions had improved dramatically in the badly-hit city of Dumai, in Riau, yesterday after a storm broke at dawn.
“We were so hoping for rainwater because our water supply for bathing and washing clothes had run out,” said Lisa Rahmawati, a 25-year-old secretary.
In Malaysia, pollution has spiked to hazardous levels in some places in recent days, with the south seeing its worst air quality in 16 years last weekend.
The smog had eased yesterday, but continued to hang over some areas, including the capital Kuala Lumpur.
The Sun newspaper said Li Cai Ling, a resident of the southern town of Muar — which saw intense air pollution at the weekend — died on Sunday, with a medical report blaming the polluted air.
The situation has also forced newly promoted English Premier League side Cardiff City to cancel a Malaysian visit that was set to begin this week.
The club said in a statement posted on its Web site on Tuesday that it has abandoned their scheduled week-long trip to Malaysia — home of its billionaire owner Vincent Tan — “due to the current poor air quality in the region.”
In 1997 and 1998, a bout of haze cost Southeast Asia an estimated US$9 billion from disruptions to air travel and business activities.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS