Forest fire smog forces Indonesians to don breathing masks

From Jakarta Bureau Chief Maria Ressa

March 9, 2000
Web posted at: 4:49 p.m. EST (2149 GMT)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Widespread forest fires have forced the government to take emergency actions in an Indonesian region to protect human health.

Indonesian officials have asked residents in the city of Pekanbaru to wear breathing masks. Dangerous levels of smog from forest fires have covered much of the Riau province this past week.

More than 50 residents have been treated for respiratory problems in the past few days. The fire-induced smog emergency is not the first for West Kaimantan.

Residents lived under a thick choking haze for months in 1997 while fires gutted some 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) of forest.

The reason? Slash and burn land clearing. Every year, farmers and plantation owners set their fields on fire, a cheap way to clear their lands.

The government said it would revoke the licenses of companies found guilty of deliberately starting fires, but not much has been done.

Officials say most of the hotspots in satellite images appear on land owned by plantation companies.

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Saving the environment

Rains on Thursday helped clear Indonesia's skies, but the winds blew the smoke to neighboring countries Singapore and Malaysia.

Officials warn if action is not taken to stop the burning, the choking haze of 1997s could return.

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