Baghdad Tops World Pollution Rankings... Singapore Second
Indonesian fires cause toxic haze across Southeast Asia.
Translated by Qiyas from الجريدة — Original source
Ongoing fires in Indonesia, which have blanketed parts of Southeast Asia with toxic smoke, prompted the regional body responsible for monitoring climate and fires to declare the highest alert level in the region.
The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre, in an update posted on its website on Saturday and reported by the Agence France-Presse today, stated that “Alert Level 3 has been activated for the ASEAN region.”
The Singapore-based ASEAN Centre, which ranked second on the IQAir platform’s live ranking of the world’s most polluted major cities—behind Baghdad, with Kuala Lumpur in third place—uses a four-tier warning system ranging from 0 to 3. The highest level is triggered when there is a “high risk of severe transboundary haze in the region.”
This risk involves monitoring active and persistent fire hotspots, along with the spread of haze with moderate to heavy intensity over two or more consecutive days, coinciding with dry weather and winds pushing the haze toward neighboring Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.
The alert was issued yesterday, noting that similar warnings had been issued twice earlier this year, specifically on August 26 and March 27.
The months-long haze has caused a sharp rise in respiratory illnesses and led to school closures in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and East Timor.
Singapore, where all readings showed “very hazardous” levels, announced it would issue warnings to seven Indonesian companies identified as responsible for the fires, while cautioning that the worst may not yet be over.
