Smog over Singapore

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/06/smog-over-singapore

by balakk • 13 years ago

67 35 13 years ago

economist.com

hislaziness• 13 years ago

If any one is interested the hourly PSI is published here :

http://www.nea.gov.sg/psi/

seanmcdirmid• 13 years ago

The 200+ pmi range sucks, but is pretty normal in places like Beijing. Thankfully it's spring and we are under 100 most days. In the worst of winter, we were at 700+, think 2.5x as bad as Singapore right now.

brisance5• 13 years ago

While not as bad as Beijing, 24 hour PM2.5 is also in the high 200s, making it Heavily Polluted/Hazardous. My parents are elderly; my father has suffered strokes before and I'm not taking any chances.

http://epi.yale.edu/community/blog/2013/01/18/beyond-crazy-b...

latch2• 13 years ago

Singapore's air is much better than Hong Kong's or Shanghai's. I grew up in the great white north, surrounded by nature, and on a day to day basis, Singapore's air is fine.

But this annual haze, largely caused by burning in Sumatra to create more farm land, is brutal. It's slightly worse than the worst I've seen in Hong Kong (Summer 2012) and it feels like it's lasting longer than the really bad spikes you get in HK.

Overall, I'll take 1-2 weeks of hazardous air, versus the more constant unhealthy air of Hong Kong or Shanghai.

Sadly, both HK and Singapore are quick to blame others. SG blames Indonesia, HK blames factories in Southern China. Even if both claims are true with respect to total pollution, both regions could be doing much more to reduce pollution.

P.S. - If anyone at Amazon or 3M is reading this...there's a need for N95 masks. The people most at risk are also the people less able to spend $3 a day on a mask - homeless, elderly, construction, cleaners.

Gigablah• 13 years ago

You say that Singapore's air is "fine" on a day to day basis. If that's the case there's nothing wrong with Singapore placing the blame on Indonesia.

latch2• 13 years ago

The fires in Indonesia are definitely the main problem right now. However, there's some talk that Singapore companies are involved in the burning and some talk that there's burning of palm fields to the south. I honestly have no clue. Nevertheless, I stand by my opinion that even though it's fine on an day to day basis, there's still some pretty low hanging fruit they should be on top of, especially given how much growth the country's still going through.

bilbo0s• 13 years ago

Well...

In the interest of full disclosure...

It's NON-Indonesian corporations that are the ones engaging in the illegal burning. Further, some of those corps are controlled out of Singapore. Which is ... ironic.

TylerE• 13 years ago

Or better yet, spend $30 on a rubber mask and get a couple hundred hours out of $10 worth of filters. As a bonus those type of masks are usually N99/N100 grade filters also.

ddeck2• 13 years ago

HK blames factories in Southern China. Even if both claims are true with respect to total pollution, both regions could be doing much more to reduce pollution

This is a common misconception. The reality is that local sources cause the majority of Hong Kong's air pollution. Marine, road transport, and power generation are the three primary contributors.

Marine contributes an astonishing amount of SO2 and NO2 and the worst part is that is easily solvable. While most developed countries wont allow ships to burn filty bunker fuel within ~100 miles of the coastline, HK allows them to burn it for days while sitting at port. There was an article a few years back about how the largest container ships each produce an equivalent amount of air pollution as 50 million cars when burning such fuel.

Several logistics companies voluntarily switched to cleaner fuel on a trial basis. The cost difference puts them at a disadvantage to their competitors and they have urged the government to force the requirement on all. Without it being mandated, they will be switching back shortly. Predictably, the the government has refused citing a "need to coordinate with neighboring regions". No doubt they will put a committee together to study the potential to create a preliminary discussion document due 2033.

albahk• 13 years ago

If HK's poor air quality is caused by locally-produced pollution why does the air quality in HK significantly improve during Mainland Chinese National Holidays (when factories in Southern China shut down but HK's so called pollution-generators like public transport, shipping and power stations remain operating as per normal)?

I agree that roadside pollution levels especially in Causeway Bay and Mongkok are most likely caused by local transport, but the clear-air and high visibility during Golden weeks and CNY suggest significant contributions from north of the border.

C1D• 13 years ago

I'm currently in Singapore and to be honest I can actually smell the wood in the air. I've went to two pharmacies and couldn't find a mask as they're all sold out.

hboon• 13 years ago

Look for NTUC Unity. There are many branches around the island.

savszymura• 13 years ago

We have an office in Singapore, here's one of our colleagues report alongside with this image.

http://i.imgur.com/nssEV4z.jpg

Singapore at 8.30 this morning, as Ali and Michael struggle to work through what appears to be Dickensian fog. The PSI (Pollution Standard Index) hit 321 which is well within ‘Hazardous’ levels, as Sumatra conducts its annual burning to clear land for palm oil, killing wildlife in the process. Reports say that nearly a 3rd of the only 200 remaining Sumatran Orangutan have already died as a result of this year’s burning. The whole island is wreathed in smoke, everything smells, inside and out, some people are wearing masks in their offices... a far cry from Leeds.

contingencies• 13 years ago

I have to fly to Singapore next week. I can bring some masks if you want. Can someone with familiarity with 3M products recommend which of these might be more suitable? http://www.3mdelivery.com/cid-85-name-r-no-1.html

ValentineC• 13 years ago

There's a crowdsourced list of shops selling N95 masks on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AuLloIXRvoaOdGxJ...

rdl• 13 years ago

I wonder if the losses Singapore's tourism and medical costs are enough to buy all the Sumatran farms, or at least to require other forms of clearing land.

philliphaydon• 13 years ago

I'm in Singapore but I've been in Hospital since Monday morning (unrelated to the haze) so I missed out, but nurses here say A&E has been filled with people they had to bring more staff in, the hospital is out of masks too!

JamisonM• 13 years ago

The article states: Singaporeans are also baffled as to why Indonesia has not yet ratified a regional agreement on trans-boundary haze pollution. Mr Laksono could provide no clear answer.

I think Singaporeans are smarter than that. Unless this agreement comes with huge payments to Indonesia to help them change agricultural practises what incentive do they have to sign it? They are the biggest polluter and my understanding is that the agreement mostly comes with "help" for Indonesia in areas of each other signatory's choosing - also known as "nothing."

wito• 13 years ago

I travel to Singapore tommorow from KL for 3 days, but I guess it won't be very good experience :(

prewett• 13 years ago

The sad part is, 400 is not uncommon in Beijing (particularly in the winter) and nobody besides expats seem to complain.

Those masks in the picture are useless, though. You need to use the 3M 8511 or 9211 or similar. (And in addition to making the air breathable, they also help with allergies).

martingordon• 13 years ago

I was in Beijing a few weeks ago when the AQI was in the mid to high 200s. While it looked nasty, what really surprised me was that I couldn't really sense that I was breathing polluted air – it didn't smell bad and it wasn't difficult to inhale. The only indicator that I was breathing bad air was the cough I developed after a week in the city. I attributed it to a traveling cold but it quickly went away when I returned to the relatively clean Manhattan air.

dtoma• 13 years ago

We've had up to 700+ this year in Beijing. The "standard", almost everyday 200+ makes it hard to do any sport... 700 was barely breathable. The situation here really deserves attention such as the one in Singapore it getting right now.

brisance5• 13 years ago

This is a potentially dangerous situation; a lot of people just do not realize the gravity of it.

Singapore is an island with only two links out of the country to neighboring Malaysia. It is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

If the situation were to take a turn for the worse, the warning might come too little, too late.

herdrick• 13 years ago

What do you mean?

outside2344• 13 years ago

what he is saying, in Singaporean, is that all countries around Singapore are highly dangerous and that Singapore should buy more F-16s and conscript more young people into the army.

Because of the foreign countries, not in case of a uprising at home, mind you.

brisance5• 13 years ago

People are reactive, not proactive. Especially Singaporeans, who have been indoctrinated since birth, to seek guidance from its government instead of taking matters into their own hands.

The prime minister has already stated that the situation could last for months. In the meantime, with PM2.5 levels being hazardous, the people's health are being irreparably harmed. What PSI level would it take for people to leave the island? 500? 1000? 2000? Would anyone still be alive to make that decision?

Let me put it this way. Riau, which is downwind and part of Indonesia (the source of the fires), has already declared a state of emergency when PSI hit 300. Singapore has not done so despite PSI levels being much higher at 401. Given the content of my earlier post, you can draw your own conclusions. I'm not going to spell it out so plainly because Singapore has got broad, draconian laws and I may be treading a fine line here.

deweerdt• 13 years ago

The atlantic has pictures: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/06/singapore-haze/10...

curiouscats• 13 years ago

Here is a comparison photo from just over the water from Singapore. It is pretty amazing how bad it has been the last several days. http://malaysia.curiouscatnetwork.com/2013/06/19/extremely-b...

mjn• 13 years ago

A Wikipedia article on the event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Southeast_Asian_haze

nsns• 13 years ago

The real problem is not in Singapore, but in Indonesia, and with the companies that are responsible for starting the fires.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/06/20/ri-dodges-haze...

hdra• 13 years ago

I think the even bigger problem is how Indonesian authority is handling this. Looking around the national publication, this haze problem is barely covered. A lot of the "netizens" hanging around forums are acting like a spoiled child saying how the Indonesian forests provides tonnes of oxygen every year and people shouldn't be overreacting. Heck, even the ministry is acting childish by refusing aid from Singapore to put out the fire.

Smog over Singapore

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