Haze envelops Singapore

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, JULY 13. Smoke haze, which led to serious problems in this region in 1997, has returned to Singapore though it remained within the ``moderate'' range.

Following forest fires in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a change in the wind direction has brought some smoke haze to Singapore ``resulting in slightly hazy conditions and a drop in visibility''. ``Over the longer term, should the number of fires increase and the winds blow the smoke towards Singapore, we can expect smoke haze. However, the intensity of the smoke haze is not expected to be as bad as that experienced in 1997 when the regional weather was affected by a strong El Nino phenomenon,'' an official statement said today.

It said the Singapore Environment Minister had written to Indonesian authorities to ``alert them of the fires in Sumatra and convey our concern over the smoke haze situation''.

Indonesian officials, the statement said, had informed Singapore that they would take action to deal with the fires in Sumatra.

``We will continue to monitor the situation closely. We have set up emergency plans for schools, childcare centres, work places... to deal with smoke haze in the event the 24-hour PSI (pollutants standard index) exceeds 100,'' it added.

The three-hour PSI was in the 60s in Singapore, well within the moderate range. However, if the PSI crosses 100 the situation would be classified as ``unhealthy'' and ``hazardous'' if the PSI goes above the 300 mark.

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Section  : International
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