The Malaysian government has ordered schools to be shut nationwide in order to put children away from the thick and hazardous haze. The haze is due to smoke from the burning forest in Indonesia.
The haze has blanketed parts of Malaysia and Singapore for about a month. On Monday the haze reached Thailand, it is the first time the haze has reached this far north. The air pollution hit hazardous levels in Shah Alam, capital of Malaysia’s Selangor state. This has prompted authorities to close down around 7000 schools on Monday and Tuesday, even though the situation eased slightly early Monday.
The poor visibility caused major air disruptions due to which several airports in the region were closed. A popular marathon event had to be canceled due to the haze.
According to Malaysian authorities, Indonesia’s efforts to stop its farmers from open burning are not enough and should take support of other south Asian countries. This sort of situation is an annual problem. These types of forest fires which cause thick haze has been an annual event since the late 1900’s. The Indonesian government has announced strict punishment for those involved in open burning, but it would take around three years to solve this.
On Monday, haze was experienced in southern Thai provinces of Songkhla, Trang, Yala and Pattani, which are closest to Malaysia. The Thai authorities have warned that the situation could get worse and for the first time this year the pollution levels have reached dangerous levels. It has advised people specially children, elderly and people having illnesses not to go out in the open and to wear masks if and when they go out. The Indonesian authorities have attempted cloud seeding to dispense the haze. But the experiment has not been successful due to lack of clouding.
The good news is that the haze is expected to clear by Saturday as the monsoon season is to start.
Image credit: Bloomberg.com
