Indonesia begins cloud-seeding operations
JAKARTA: INDONESIA has begun seeding clouds in an attempt to create rain to extinguish raging fires that have cloaked neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia in choking smog, an official said yesterday.
An aircraft with cloud-seeding equipment late Saturday managed to unleash rain over Bengkalis district on Sumatra island, where some of the biggest fires are burning, disaster management agency official Agus Wibowo said.
"We hope the haze situation will improve, provide some relief to those affected and everything will go back to normal soon."
Wibowo said Riau province, where the fires are burning, was in a "state of emergency", with the Pollution Standards Index (PSI) exceeding the hazardous 400 level in several locations.
Three helicopters were also to drop water to put out fires on hundreds of hectares of peatland that have engulfed Singapore and Malaysia in smog.
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Wibowo said Riau province, where the fires are burning, was in a "state of emergency", with the Pollution Standards Index (PSI) exceeding the hazardous 400 level in several locations.
Three helicopters were also to drop water to put out fires on hundreds of hectares of peatland that have engulfed Singapore and Malaysia in smog.
The pollution index dropped to "moderate" in Singapore, but the smog has intensified in parts of southern Malaysia.
The crisis has escalated tensions between Singapore and its neighbour, with the city-state repeatedly demanding that Jakarta step up its efforts to put out the fires.
However, Indonesian officials have become irate at the demands, and on Thursday the minister coordinating Jakarta's response to the crisis accused Singapore of acting "like a child".
The crisis also brought more negative publicity for big palm oil plantations and pulp groups -- Indonesian, Singaporean and Malaysian -- which deforest vast swathes of Sumatra, although the companies insist that they have strict "no burn" policies in place.
