Singaporeans breathing easier with better air quality in
Singapore
By Farah Abdul Rahim, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 08 October 2006
1817 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singaporeans are breathing easier, as air quality over
the skies of Singapore improved, with the Pollutant Standards Index
falling back into the good range from 8am on Sunday morning.
The 3-hour Pollutant Standards Index continued to slip further to a
low of 27 by midday.
In the afternoon, it slowly climbed up again to 35 by 4pm, while
staying under 50.
This was a sharp contrast to the hazy conditions over Singapore on
Saturday which reached a 9-year record high of 150 on Saturday
night.
The change in wind direction with the south-southeasterly winds
helped to blow the bulk of smoke haze from the fires in southern
Sumatra, leading to an improvement over the skies of
Singapore.
However, the prevailing wind direction changed from the late
afternoon, slowly bringing in the smoke haze from Sumatra to
Singapore yet again.
While the 3-hour PSI which is taken from the average over the past
3 hours has dipped, the health advisory from the National
Environment Agency remains - as the 24 hour PSI which calculates
the average PSI from 4pm on Saturday to 4pm on Sunday is still
above 100, in the unhealthy range.
Those with chronic heart or lung diseases should reduce physical
exertion and outdoor activity, while the general population should
reduce vigorous outdoor activity.
Latest satellite pictures showed 42 hotspots in Sumatra, mainly in
Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra.
The agency says the small number of such hotspots detected was due
to cloud cover, while more voices in Singapore are calling for the
problem to be resolved.
"This is something we alone cannot do. No matter how we want this
haze to go away, we can't. But I think our government should take
this up within the ambit of ASEAN, and make it very clear to the
Indonesian government that this is not a situation we want to see
every year because it is unfair to people in the region who have to
suffer this problem whether it's Singapore, Malaysia or other parts
of the region," said Halimah Yacob, Chairman, Government
Parliamentary Committee for Health.
The public can go online for hourly updates of the 3-hour PSI at
National Environment Agency (NEA) website
The relevant health advisory will also be updated and posted on the
website, depending on the severity of the haze situation.
If the 24-hr PSI goes beyond 150, the public is advised to obtain
respiratory masks which can be bought from most pharmacies.
Should the situation go into the very unhealthy range (when the PSI
hits between 201 and 300), the public is advised to avoid
unnecessary outdoor activities and to stay in a room equipped with
a portable air cleaner. - CNA /dt
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