Operation Haze
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Operation Haze is the biggest cross-border
firefighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...
mission in history that involved teams of
Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...
firefighters going across to
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
to assist with putting out major fires that were causing severe haze across Southeast Asia.


History

The haze first became a considerable disruption to daily life in Malaysia in April 1983. The cause of the haze is uncertain, which has led to speculation that suspended ash particulates from volcanic eruptions, suspended smoke particulates from large-scale forest fires, open agricultural burning in neighbouring countries, as well as local agricultural burning had caused the haze. The disruption happened again in August 1990, from June to October 1991, and has recurred every year since 1992, plaguing the months of August, September, and October. The effects of the haze reached their zenith in 1997 when the cause of the haze was confirmed to be
forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
and plantation fires in Southern Sumatra, Kalimantan, and some other islands of Indonesia as the sky remained dull with pollution from August until November of that year.


Impact

By September 1997, forest fires in Indonesia had been raging uncontrollably. The area where the fire took place was estimated to be the size of 4 million
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
pitches and was visible even from space. The Indonesian forest fires produced noxious yellow smoke clouds that smothered a vast region of
South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
, reaching as far as northern
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The clouds caused the air quality disaster known as the 1997 South East Asian haze. Millions of people were forced to wear masks and hundreds of death were reported in Indonesia, as a direct or indirect result of a severe decline in air quality. The impact of the haze caused the
Air Pollution Index The Air Pollution Index (API; ms, Indeks Pencemaran Udara) is a simple and generalized way to describe the air quality, which is used in Malaysia. It is calculated from several sets of air pollution data and was formerly used in mainland China and ...
, which is used by Malaysia, to rises to alarmingly hazardous levels. In the Malaysian state of
Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
, these API numbers hit record levels. In just six days, 10,000 people had sought treatment for haze related issues. In Malaysia, the Prime Minister was forced to declare a
State of Emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
, closing schools, government offices and many shops all over the state, including constructions and industries, which ground to a halt. The total cost of the damage caused by the haze to Malaysia was estimated to be RM802 million or US$321 million, for the period between August to October 1997. The damage caused by the haze affected the GDP by an estimated 0.30 per cent. The haze even affected the output of gas turbines at the Kuala Langat Power Plant (KLPP), Malaysia. It was hypothesized that gas turbine combustions during haze-free periods when oxygen levels were sufficient, could to achieve perfect or near perfect combustion. However, during the period when the haze occurred, the air contained less amount of
oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
, which affected the combustion, causing it to not perform optimally.


Actions

The then Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir, searched desperately for a solution. The head of the Malaysian fire and rescue department came up with a plan to send a team of Malaysian firefighters across to Indonesia. Operation Haze became the biggest cross-border firefighting mission in history. Malaysian firefighters fought a desperate battle with the fires raging across
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
and
Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...
over 25 days, and faced insurmountable obstacles. At the peak of massive forest and land fires, the numbers of hotspots reached 37,938, which occurred in August 1997. Healthy-looking trees could fall upon them as it base burned out. Peat fires posed the worst risk as the firefighters could be dropped in fire pits as the fires burn deep underground. There they encountered huge problems ranging from the lack of right equipment, no water source to fight the fires with, up to the problem of identifying the source of the fires deep in the peat land. Finally, after 25 days, they managed to battle the haze so that visibility to the sky was restored. Also, with the help of monsoon rains, the haze threat was finally over.


Post operations

At the end of it all, a total of between 8 and 10 million hectares of forest was destroyed, an estimated 40,000 people sought
hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
treatment and many deaths were reported, tourism was severely impacted, and an estimate of US$10 billion in losses were recorded across the region.


Future mitigating plans

As part of steps taken to avoid the recurring of the Haze, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
(ASEAN) approved the need for an early warning system in the Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP) in 1998 to prevent forest fires and the resulting haze through improved management policies and enforcements, example via Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS) In addition, Malaysia and Indonesian come up with a Disaster Cooperation and Assistance which was signed by H.E. Datuk Seri Mohamed bin Rahmat, who is the National Disaster Management and Relief Committee Chairman as well as the Minister of Information, on behalf of the Malaysian Government and H.E. Dato’ Seri Utama ft.
Azwar Anas Ir. Haji Azwar Anas gelar Datuk Rajo Suleman (born 2 August 1931), more colloquially referred to as Pak Anas, is a former Indonesian politician, bureaucrat, and military officer. A member of the Golkar political party, he served in a number of ...
, Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare and also chairman of the Indonesia National Disaster Management Coordinating Board (BAKORNAS-PB) on behalf of the Indonesian Government.


References


External links


Haze Hell Over Asia


{{Asia Pollution Environment of Malaysia History of firefighting