Haze Shrouding Singapore Comes from Malaysia, not Riau

Pekanbaru, Riau (Antara) - The haze that was blanketing Singapore had come from the land fires in Malaysia, not from the Riau Province, a disaster mitigation official said. "The smoke was believed to be coming from Singapore's northern direction, namely Malaysia, from where the winds were moving northwest," the Head of the Data Information Center of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Sutopo P. Nugroho, said here on Tuesday. He stated that based on information from the National Environment Agency of Singapore, the air pollution index in Singapore was categorized at a moderate level since Friday. "It was a strongly possibility that the air pollution was caused by haze from Malaysia," he said. He added that there were a total of 110 hotspots in the Malaysian Peninsula. "The Terra and Aqua satellites detected on March 11 that the haze extended to the Malacca Straits and entered the Riau province in Indonesia," he noted. However, he also expressed concern about the conditions of the fires in the Riau province. The latest number of hotspots detected by the NOAA-18 satellite increased to 168 from the previous 145. The main sources of the hotspots were the districts of Pulau Rupat, Dumai, Bengkalis and Meranti Islands. The government of the Riau province announced that it will extend the timeline for emergency response, following ongoing forest fires in the area. "Emergency response will last for the next 14 days. The decision was made due to the worsening air pollution, caused by the forest fires, in a few cities and districts in Riau," Deputy Governor Abdul Latif said. (*)