Parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore enjoyed their clearest skies in weeks, while affected areas of the Philippines and Thailand also have seen an end to air pollution that has sickened tens of thousands across the region and caused flight cancellations and school closures.
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An airborne haze spreading across southeast Asia, caused by the burning of forests in Indonesia, has been partially cleared by persistent rain.
“The north-east monsoon has arrived”.
The haze occurs annually in result of forest and peat clearing, although the dry weather brought on from El Nino has made this year’s particularly severe.
“We should have blue skies and no more haze”, Che Gayah Ismail, director-general of the country’s Meteorological Department, told AFP, adding that any further smoke would be blown away from the region.
“The community welcomed the rains joyfully, expressing gratitude to God, having been affected by smoke for more than two months”, he said.
The haze crisis has continued to worsen with over 43 million people exposed to smoke from the wildfires, with over half a million cases of acute respiratory tract infections recorded.
Endangered wildlife such as orangutans have also been forced to flee the forests because of the fires.
Concentrated mainly in South Sumatra, South and Central Kalimantan and Papua, the toxic fumes from the fires-an intentional byproduct of “cut-and-burn” farming for palm oil-are estimated to have been inhaled by up to 43 million people, Sutopo Puro Nugroho, a spokesperson for the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said over the weekend.
A few experts have previously warned the El Nino weather phenomenon could delay the rains for months, prolonging the environmental disaster.
Cloud seeding operations conducted by sowing salt to create potential clouds have produced rains, he said.
Earlier this month, Jakarta asked several countries, including Australia and Russian Federation, for aid, equipment and personnel to help combat the fires.
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“I would say, extremely hazardous for your health”, Martin Wooster, professor of Earth Observation Science at King’s College London and National Centre for Earth Observation, was quoted as saying in an online article by the Centre for worldwide Forestry Research (CIFOR). The national disaster agency said late on Monday that haze was starting to spread south toward Java island, where over half the country’s population lives. Indonesia has also deployed warships to evacuate infants and other vulnerable residents of haze-hit areas, a minister said last week. Indonesian President Joko Widodo however said the haze problem may take up to three years before it is completely under control.
