Mid-Autumn Haze

Mid Autumn Festival (中秋节) is here once more... and so is the haze.

Oh the haze... I think many Malaysians and Singaporeans won't forget how bad the notorious haze was in 1997/1998. Even managed to get into National Geographic if I'm not mistakened. Economic losses were purported to be at US$9.3 billion (from a Wikipedia article here)! And I remember I had to wear a mask to school (the simple cheap cheap type) in standard 6. The PSI (Polutants Standard Index), or the API (Air Pollution Index), was at an all time high at my place... 100+! Of course, there were places that were worse off like Kuching... the PSI there reached an all time crazy high of 839! The visibility was within the range of 300-500m only I think.

Then a few months after coming to Singapore I was also considering of wearing a mask... for SARS... but that is a different story =P

Anyway, I also clearly remember that I didn't manage to see the moon during Mid-Autumn Festival in 1997. And possibly this year too, or at least it'll not as bright as I would have loved it to be. Sadly the rains don't seem to help much... and I'm keeping indoors and not running at all these days because of the haze.

Well, thank goodness November is on the way... time for the monsoon winds to change (from south-west to north-east) and that'll greatly reduce the haze in the Southeast Asian region. The haze will be directed to the Indian Ocean and West Australia instead (which is fine since not so many people live there). But Sumatrans (and Javans also I guess) will continue to suffer lah. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono... do something!