Impacts of haze in 2002 on social activity and human health in Palangka Raya

Abstract

Dense haze emitted from peatland and forest fires in 1997/98 and 2002 damaged not only the peatland and forests themselves, but also the social activity and human health in many South East Asian countries. Several components of air quality, namely carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter less than 10 μm in diameter, were monitored since 2001 by the Environmental Impact Agency of Palangka Raya at three sites in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan. This study focused on daily concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter less than 10 μm in diameter (PM₁₀) from 2001 to 2004. Clearly, concentrations of CO and PM₁₀ increased during the dry season of every year. The 8 hour average levels of CO concentration were higher than 15 ppm for 42 days during the dry season of 2002, an El Nino year. The MP₁₀ values were also very high during the 2002 dry season. The PM₁₀ values were higher than 250 μg m^-3 for 84 days in 2002. The high levels in air pollutant materials suggest that people living in Palangka Raya were subject to unhealthy conditions for a long time during the dry season in 2002. The rates of solar radiation on the ground (S_r) against extra-terrestrial solar radiation (S₀) showed a good correlation to the PM₁₀ values with a high coefficient of determination (0.92) during the dry season in 2002. The regression curve was applied to solar radiation on the ground in 1997. The result shows that the level of PM₁₀ in Palangka Raya was the same in September and October in both years, but high levels of PM₁₀ continued until November of 1997. The 2002 forest fires were responsible for financial losses at the national level. Merpati Nusantara Airline, Mandala Airline and Dirgantara Air Service lost 10.6 billion Rupiah, 2.8 billion Rupiah and 235 million Rupiah, respectively, while Garuda Indonesia Airline and Bouraq Airline lost 76.8 billion and 954 million Rupiah, respectively. Many schools (kindergartens, basic schools and elementary schools) were closed for one to four weeks. Many very old and very young people became ill and died. The estimated numbers of health cases in Central Kalimantan caused by forest fire are as follows: Death, 29 people; Asthma, 17,270 people; Bronchitis, 3,366 people; and ISPA, 83,772 people. The fires and haze restricted the ability of people to work and 275,660 people were forced to work only occasionally, while 141,714 people stopped working completely for the duration of the forest fires and produce thick smoke.