Haze - What you should know

If you stay in South East Asia, there's one man-made disaster that you probably would be familiar with, i.e. Haze. Take a look at the following photo. Visibility is low. I did not experience this during my childhood time in the 70s. If I remember well, we did not experience much of this in the 80s too.

What causes the haze? You can read the details from Wikipedia here. In short, The haze is largely caused by illegal agricultural fires in Indonesia. Burned land can be sold at a higher price illegally, and eventually used for activities including oil palm and pulpwood production. Burning is also cheaper and faster compared to slashing and cutting using excavators. Obviously, these are selfish economy activities who disregard the health of public. While the source is from Indonesia, it is believed that many foreign companies such as those from Malaysia and Singapore are also involved.

Comment from a Indonesia politician saying that Singaporeans and Malaysian should be thankful for 11 months of good quality air and not complain much during the 1 month of Haze period is totally irresponsible and absurd. The problems had been for at least two decades, and we do not see material attempt to resolve the issue, except that Singapore has local law to punish Singapore companies responsible for forest fire in Indonesia. I heard that those bureaucrats in Jakarta are enjoying blue sky every day and I can understand that there's no urgency in them to solve the issue. So, sadly, I believe the problem will persist for at least few more decades.

Unfortunately, many people do not understand the precaution well. While most of us in Singapore are well informed, I don't see the same level of understanding in other parts of South East Asia. For example, I am very shocked to see Indonesia's preseident, Jokowi gave interview after visiting Haze affected area wearing surgical mask. Many people in Malaysia wears surgical mask too. But do you know that surgical mask is not effective in protecting you?

From what I read, one major harmful particles in the Haze are particle matters less than 2.5micron, or PM2.5. These fine particles are even smaller than bacteria or virus.

PM2.5 is fine enough to enter the bloodstream, and being exposed to PM2.5 increases the risk of death in general and from heart and lung illnesses – and for every 10-microgram increase in annual PM2.5 concentrations, the added risk of dying from overall causes, cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer goes up 4 per cent, 6 per cent and 8 per cent respectively over a 16-year period.

You may want to check out more information from the following websites

(1) Environment Protection Agency (USA) website about pollutant in particular "particle matter"
(2) FAQ on Environment Protection Agency Website
(3) Health Exchange Website about PM2.5
(4)Singapore National Enviornment Website on Haze : Haze reading in SG available here
(5) Malaysia Air Pollutant Index - Department of Environment

Please read the next post about what action can we take to protect ourselves.