Hazardous haze over Singapore may last weeks
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E-mail Agencies via Shanghai Daily, June 21, 2013
Haze from fires in Indonesia blanketing Singapore could persist for weeks or longer, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday, as the smoke drove air quality to "hazardous" levels and disrupted business and travel in the region.
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Smoke haze shrouds the Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore, June 20, 2013. Singapore's air pollution index soared to a record high on Thursday, pushed by the transboundary haze resulting from forest fires in neighboring Indonesia. [Photo/Xinhua] |
Illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island to clear space for palm oil plantations is a chronic problem during the June to September dry season.
One Indonesian minister accused Singaporeans of acting like children, but pollution levels in the normally pristine city-state have shattered records set in 1997, raising diplomatic tensions and concerns about the economic impact.
"It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra," Lee said, warning of action if Singapore-linked companies were behind the burning. "On the scale of it, it's unlikely to be just small stakeholders slashing and burning."
On the fourth day of heavy smog, the smell of burned wood filled the air, skyscrapers were barely visible and haze hung in the tunnels that link Singapore's metro stations and shopping malls in the central core. Some residents wore surgical masks or covered their faces with handkerchiefs when they walked outside.
Singapore will suffer "an immediate hit to tourism," investment bank Barclays Plc said, noting that retailers, hotels, restaurants, gaming and other tourism-related sectors make up about 5-6 percent of the city-state's economy.
"We think arrivals will recover quickly when the haze dissipates," it said in a report. "But the situation is fluid - prolonged hazardous conditions could affect Singapore's international reputation."
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