Air pollution from fires still affecting Malaysia and Singapore

Land-clearance fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra have caused high levels of air pollution in the form of smog throughout Malaysia and Singapore. Changes in wind conditions have cleared some of the smog, but it currently remains at high levels.

Schools were closed throughout Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, and Selangor state last week by the government, as the air pollution levels recorded were deemed to be too dangerous for children to go outside. Many businesses opted to stay closed and sent employees home as the smog levels continued.

Indonesia has made moves to control the land-clearance fires in an effort to reduce the amount of air pollution that is affecting Singapore and Malaysia. Cloud-seeding - a process that sees aircraft release chemicals into clouds in an effort to create rain - has not been entirely successful. Although it has produced some rainfall, the official statement is that it has not yet caused enough rain to successfully control the fires.

Agus Wibowo, Indonesian disaster agency official, said to AFP: "So far we've had two sessions of cloud-seeding, one on Saturday evening and one yesterday evening. Some rain has fallen over Dumai City (in Riau Povince). The cloud-seeding technology is meant to speed up rainfall, but with few clouds, there's little we can do. The rain was more like a drizzle."

Malaysia declared a state of emergency on Sunday 23rd June as air pollution reached the highest levels seen within two southern districts in 16 years. Although these areas have since seen some relief from the extreme levels of smog, other areas throughout the country are now experiencing greater levels of air pollution.  

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Indonesia's National Disaster Agency spokesman, said via text message to media: "We have carried out 14 water-bombings, dropping a total of seven-thousand litres of water onto the fires. To boost the operation, we have deployed an extra helicopter for water bombing today."