The Siege Of Smog

The pictures I took here are not about a city under the morning fog, the temperature was not even cool, it was humid and hot, and it was not morning, it was around three in the afternoon. The forests burning in Kalimantan have been the culprit of smog that covered parts of Indonesia and reached out to neighbouring countries like Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia.

It has been happening every year, and this year as the dry season is nigh, the planting season commenced, the smog has returned. The local government advised the people not to go out in the night as the quality of air has reduced to the level where it is dangerous.

Previous phenomena created respiratory problems for the people, some problems ended up being fatal. The government has stated that they will provide thousands of masks (small pieces of fine membrane that barely cover the mouth and lower part of the nose) that will be distributed to the people of the city of Pontianak, West Borneo.

The length of vision is limited to several hundred meters, but it wont be long until it is too dangerous for a plane to land or take off.

The local farmers burned the plantation area to prepare the soil for the next set of plants, it is inescapable practice, and the government has not come up with any viable solutions to this problem. Meanwhile the residents of Pontianak seems to have gotten used to it, they do their daily activity without any hint of worry, no masks, no complaints of waste burning around the neighbourhood; commuting without any protection against smog. Sore eyes, breathing problems seems to have become a part of the annual festivities.

To show how serious the situation really is, there’s a picture of the surface of an old truck, where there were small fragments of ashes and they didn't come from any nearby incinerator. The same ashes can be seen all over the city, on the parked cars and on the seats of motorcycles. A piece of fabric, left for a day outside the house had caught them too, and in all this, we breathe.