Stop the Fires
I just lost a post I drafted earlier.
Here is what it was about: the return of haze to Singapore.
After three years of relatively clear skies, yesterday the clouds that we assumed were clouds turned out to be smog from Sumatra. Naively I opened the windows and doors upon waking, eager to welcome a lazy Saturday. Sitting on the balcony with my instant coffee, I stared at the familiar skyline, seemingly more remote than usual - because I could barely see it. By noon, the skyline had disappeared completely and our eyes watered even inside the apartment. By 3 pm, the air quality index, or AQI, was 192, or unhealthy for human activity. I use the Air Visual app to check AQI.
The cause? Some 450 fires are raging in Riau, Jambi, and South Sumatra in neighbouring Indonesia, where the air quality index hovered above 400 in Simpang. When the AQI hits 300, people are advised to stay indoors and avoid the hazards - that is, the air - outside.
That is only half the story. In West and Central Kalimantan, fires are also raging. Overall, some 4000 hotspots have been detected across Indonesia. In Palangkaraya, the capital city of Central Kalimantan and a place I have visited often, the AQI today was an unbelievable 1760. I feel like the extra digit might be a technical glitch, but maybe not. The local government reports that they have prepared 12 (that’s right, TWELVE) rooms with oxygen tanks to help people who cannot breathe. That correlates with the AQI readings. Palangkaraya may right now be an inferno.
Several devastated forests to the east, but still in Central Kalimantan, is Pangkalan Bun, in better times a sleepy town that serves as a gateway to Tanjung Puting National Park, home of the beloved orangutans.
This photo is what Pangkalan Bun looked like two days ago. The photographer is A. Tanoto and you can find him here on Instagram.
Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.
The fires have been on my mind constantly. I don’t post too often on social media but I now feel compelled to tell anyone who wants to hear that the fires MUST be stopped. For the sake of Singapore, for the health of communities in Sumatra and Kalimantan, for the health and survival of our planet. The last time fires raged like this, back in 2016, Indonesia lost a million hectares of forest and dare I say lobbed a gargantuan amount of emissions into the atmosphere. Congratulations to us.
Some media are reporting the fires, particularly in the last 24 hours. AFP photographer Adek Berry is on the scene. But then there are reports like this one from the BBC, who says that there are fires every year and previous years have been worse. Interesting logic. Next. I went to Central Kalimantan following the fires of 2013 and saw miles and miles of devastation. If there are fewer fires now - at least for the moment, September is only halfway through - it may be because the land has not recuperated from previous fires.
Yet ok, it’s late, so I challenge you to prove me wrong. Make yesterday the anomaly and not the norm. I’ll toast to that.
#StopTheFires
