Singapore Braces for the Return of Hazy Skies
Fires combined with unusually hot and dry weather are expected to worsen air quality in the coming months.
If weather patterns hold, Singapore may look similar to September 2019, when a haze shrouded the city.
Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg
By
Isabel Kua
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7 July 2023 at 07:00 GMT+8
Singapore is making contingency plans to distribute masks and create safe spaces for vulnerable groups as it prepares for unusually hot, dry weather to worsen air quality across the region.
The government is considering haze “sanctuaries” in public facilities, such as air-conditioned rooms in community centers, to protect the elderly and others, Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, told parliament on Wednesday, giving an update on action plans by the country’s inter-agency
Haze Task Force. She said the upcoming season may be the hottest and driest since September 2019, when a haze shrouded the city-state.
Singapore’s
Meteorological Service said in May it saw a 70% to 80% chance of an El Nino in the second half of the year. Such weather patterns typically lead to less rain in Southeast Asia, and can exacerbate naturally occurring or deliberate fires that have been started in Indonesia and Malaysia to clear land for the growing of oil palm, pulpwood and rubber trees. The resulting transboundary haze has previously sparked diplomatic rows.