Visibility 700 Yards In Indonesian Borneo As Residents Don Masks

[hatrack]

JAKARTA (AFP) - "Choking haze from forest and ground fires blanketed the Indonesian part of Borneo island, forcing residents to wear face masks and causing flight delays, an official said.

Since Monday, residents in the town of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province have been urged to wear face masks while going out, said Hari Yudo, an airport spokesman.


"The haze began to thicken this week. The local government distributed masks but due to limited availability, not all residents have received them. Therefore, they are urged to stay home and not to go out unless necessary," he told AFP. Close to noon, visibility was reduced to a mere 700 meters (yards), Yudo said.

The haze -- believed to have been caused by residents who cleared land by setting fire -- had forced the daily delays of two morning flights since Monday, he said. "This is a problem because it is a tradition that is hard to eradicate," Yudo said, adding some residents had complained of breathing and eye problems."

EDIT

[ladjf]

1. Nature is trying to tell them something. They aren't listening.

[amazona]

2. the masks don't really do anything, do they?

When I was stuck in San Diego County while they burned the place down last year, they would tell people that if they must go out, they could wear respirators, but that they really didn't do anything to protect the most dangerous small particles from the lungs. They were more to give people a false feeling of being able to "do something" than a real solution to the problem.

[phantom power]

3. It's the *new* American way: pretend to do something

instead of actually doing anything.

[theoceansnerves]

4. i'm not an expert

but some of them do. i remember looking into it last year during the same fires you mentioned. the ones that actually help are really expensive, i think most people were just using ones you get at home depot for woodworking, and i assumed those were pretty worthless.

[kestrel91316]

5. Indonesia is the next Haiti.....................

if they haven't cut or burned down every last bit of their forests within 50 years I'll eat my shoes.

[hatrack]

6. All remaining Sumatran lowland forest on track to vanish by 2010

That leaves Irian Jaya, Borneo and a few of the smaller islands, but buhdeebuhdeebuhdee that's all, folks!