Thick haze forces flights to be axed in Indonesia
Visibility level drops below limit for safe landings as PSI hits 435 in Riau
PUBLISHED ON SEP 20, 2014 7:06 AM
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A helicopter operated by Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency conducting water bombing in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra,
yesterday. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BY WAHYUDI SOERIAATMADJA INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT IN JAKARTA
Thick haze forced flights to be delayed, diverted or cancelled altogether at several airports in
places such as Jambi and Palembang in Sumatra and Palangkaraya in Kalimantan yesterday,
as visibility levels dropped below the 1km threshold for safe landings.
Officials in some affected provinces discussed measures including school closures if
conditions worsen and the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) exceeds 200.
In Kandis, Riau province, the PSI hit 435, as the haze reached as far north-west as Banda
Aceh and Medan, some 600km away.
But the worst-affected areas were in Kalimantan, where health officials distributed masks and
warned residents to stay indoors. Winds travelling westwards from Kalimantan drove the
haze to Singapore over the past two days.
Indonesia's national disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) carried out cloud-seeding operations
over Central Kalimantan in the past two days, using an air force Hercules aircraft, a
spokesman said. The plane had been under maintenance earlier this week, when fires were at
their peak.
Nine helicopters were also deployed across several provinces to conduct water-bombing
operations to put out fires.
BNPB chief Syamsul Maarif has ordered more intensive cloud seeding and water bombing,
especially as fires and the haze may pick up until next month amid drier weather.
Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wrote to his
Indonesian counterpart Balthasar Kambuaya on Thursday to express concern over the haze
and reiterate Singapore's offer of assistance to Indonesia to deal with the fires (see box
below).
But Jakarta has previously said it would marshal its own resources to put out the fires, and
yesterday, BNPB said: "We hope all national resources can collaborate to help regional
governments put out forest and plantation fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan."
Meteorologists had some good news for the weekend. Said weather forecaster Dina Ike in
Pontianak, West Kalimantan: "There is possible light to moderate rain in the next three days.
The rainy season should start in mid-October at the latest."
Environmental activists continued to criticise the government for not doing enough to prevent
the fires, an annual occurrence mostly caused by open burning, which is the cheapest way to
clear land - but illegal.
"The government is not serious in tackling this," said activist Mukri Priatna from
environmental group Walhi. "Getting the culprits is as easy as matching the coordinates of
the hot spots with the concession coordinates of plantation companies. It doesn't do this."
But the World Resources Institute was more optimistic, saying in a note yesterday that the
Indonesian Parliament's vote to ratify an Asean haze agreement could put more pressure on
officials to enforce the country's laws.
It noted that there was greater momentum to crack down on illegal burning, saying: "Recent
events show that Indonesia is taking the fires more seriously."
wahyudis@sph.com.sg
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Second South Korean found dead after Hurricane Odile hits Mexico, death toll now 3
PUBLISHED ON SEP 20, 2014 9:08 AM
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CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AFP) - The death toll from Hurricane Odile rose to three on
Friday after the body of a second South Korean man was found floating in a harbour in
Mexico's Los Cabos resort.
The authorities also reported that two British citizens were missing, five days after Odile tore
across the northwestern Baja California peninsula causing widespread damage to hotels and
neighborhoods.
The 58-year-old South Korean mining executive's body was recovered one day after his
colleague was found dead from drowning, prosecutors said in a statement.
The two men were trying to drive a car across a stream when they were swept away by floods
earlier this week. A German man died of a heart attack in a boat.
Helicopters were deployed to search for a Scottish man and woman whose boat apparently
sank, said state Tourism Secretary Ruben Reachi Lugo.
"We are aware that two British nationals have been reported missing off the coast of
Mexico," the British Foreign Office told AFP in a statement.
"We are in touch with local authorities and are providing consular assistance to the families at
this difficult time," it said without providing the missing people's names.
The hurricane stranded 30,000 tourists in Los Cabos after roads and airports were damaged.
An airlift has evacuated 18,000 of them since Tuesday amid looting in the municipality.
The US State Department said it chartered four flights that ferried more than 500 US citizens
out of Los Cabos in the past 24 hours while the embassy said most Americans had left.
Another 41 Americans traveled in a US Air Force cargo plane that took them to Los Angeles,
the Pentagon said, adding that it was not foreseeing more flights.
While Odile has dissipated across the US border, Tropical Storm Polo churned off Mexico's
south-west coast and was expected to pass south of Baja on Saturday, bringing more rain and
swells to the peninsula, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
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Storm forces closure of Florence museums for damage checks
PUBLISHED ON SEP 20, 2014 12:39 AM
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FLORENCE, Italy (REUTERS) - Florence officials ordered the closure of many of the
Tuscan city's museums on Friday, including the famed Uffizi Gallery, while technicians
checked for damage after a particularly violent storm.
The museums house some of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance and the Uffizi is home
to masterpieces by Fra Angelico, Boticelli, Raphael and others.
Streets, cellars and ground floors of buildings in the city centre were flooded by the storm
that felled trees in several parts of the city, but there were no immediate reports of damage to
the museums or to the works of art inside them.
Several stained glass windows in churches were slightly damaged and officials said water got
into the Renaissance-era Palazzo Vecchio, which serves as both a museum and as Florence's
town hall.
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