Haze Affecting Singapore Citizens

Hazy mornings, evenings interrupting our daily lives, can’t go outside and we are not allowed to play our sport and have our liberty all because of people in Indonesia burning down trees thus creating haze. People are in misery, trapped inside a city where people walk around wearing face masks for protection. Tourist come to Singapore expecting that Singapore is a great place and away from any natural crisis but in reality they have to deal with the haze.

The main reason why the haze is caused is because loggers in Indonesia are burning down palm trees for their job. Acres and acres burn every single day. Indonesia and Malaysia have dozens of space filled with palm plantations. It is challenging to put the haze to rest as the haze comes from the burning of the roots of the tree. Meteorologist predict that the haze will continue to travel to Singapore until the monsoon season meaning that could mean November throughout January.

PSI is the reading that is used to show the level of the current haze outside. Depending on where you are currently located, mostly countries surrounding Indonesia will be effected, one of the countries does include Singapore, Malaysia and the south sides of Thailand. The psi at the moment ranges from 900-1000 in Indonesia and 130-160 in Singapore and Malaysia.

There are different categories of danger when the National Environmental Agency releases the level of the haze using psi. 20-80 means moderate, 100-150 means unhealthy. The danger keeps rising and once it reaches 300 or above, the category that with the 300 or above is hazardous. Hazardous means that you should avoid being outside for too long. Lucky for people living in Singapore, people can continue with their daily lives and routines but people located in Indonesia need to stay indoors and stop most of the things they would do in their life.

Haze can be very critical and dangerous and we could get asthma and other respiratory illnesses. People with existing problems should seek immediate medical attention and safety mask for protection from the airborne haze particles.

By Adhvay