Singapore late Thursday ordered emergency school closures as air pollution reached "hazardous" levels due to suffocating smoke from agricultural fires raging on a nearby Indonesian island.
Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said the shutdown order for Friday will affect primary and secondary schools as well as kindergartens run by the ministry and special education schools.
Parents who cannot make alternative arrangements because of the short notice can still send their children to school, where they will be placed in air-conditioned rooms, he said, according to local media who attended a press briefing Thursday night.
Singapore's air quality steadily worsened during the day as thick smog blown in from forest fires on Indonesia's neighbouring island of Sumatera bore down on the city-state, which prides itself on its clean environment.
There were fewer people outdoors despite Thursday being a public holiday and more residents were seen wearing face masks.
Pizza Hut suspended its delivery service, citing "hazardous conditions caused by the haze".
The National Environment Agency said the haze situation could further worsen because of the prevailing winds.
"As I walked around, the impact of the haze, on people, was obvious. I was coughing, eyes itching, the heat oppressive. Our senior citizens must be feeling much worse," Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam wrote on Facebook.
"The Singapore government takes the matter seriously. We stand ready to assist Indonesia in combatting the fires," he said.
A reading of the three-hour Pollutant Standards Index, showed the air quality deteriorating from "very unhealthy" earlier in the day to "hazardous".
The environment agency advised healthy persons to "avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion" and urged the elderly, pregnant women and children to minimise outdoor exposure.
Housewife Asnah Mohamad, 62, said she and her friend used their headscarfs to cover their face as they travelled to a mosque to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
"My husband cannot leave the house because he has a heart condition so I represented him to collect the meat offerings," she told AFP, referring to the festival in which Muslims share the meat of a goat or sheep slaughtered as sacrifices.
"We hope it gets better soon. But what can you do? Go over there (to Indonesia) and pour water on the fire?"
The city-state has been cloaked in the haze in varying degrees for about three weeks, the worst such episode since mid-2013.
The haze situation has been made worse this year by an El Nino weather system, which produces tinder-dry conditions in Indonesia and increases the risk of fires.
Under pressure from its neighbours to stop the annual haze, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has pledged to crack down on companies and individuals behind the burnings, which are a cheap but harmful way of clearing vast tracts of land for plantations.
He said the government was trying its best to extinguish the fires by dropping water from helicopters and inducing rain through cloud seeding.
Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency told AFP that 2,081 fire "hotspots" were recorded in the worst-affected region of Indonesia's Kalimantan and 290 in Sumatra on Thursday.
READ: Haze: Singapore netizens express dissatisfaction... yet, again!
AFP
Thu Sep 24 2015
The environment agency advised healthy persons to "avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion" and urged the elderly, pregnant women and children to minimise outdoor exposure. - File Photo
Pengembara dari dan ke Singapura bawa lebih S$20,000 perlu lakukan pengisytiharan
Pengisytiharan menggunakan kertas pada masa ini akan dihentikan pada 13 Mei ini.
GiatMARA Bagan Datuk dinaik taraf sebagai Malaysia-China Institute
Pada peringkat awal, pusat itu akan melatih 2,000 tenaga TVET yang mendapat tajaan latihan ke negara berkenaan.
PM tiba di Kota Kinabalu untuk lawatan sehari
Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tiba di Kota Kinabalu malam tadi untuk lawatan kerja sehari ke Sabah.
Bayaran yuran latihan e-sukan layak nikmati pelepasan cukai mulai tahun depan - Hannah
Perbelanjaan yuran keahlian gimnasium, mengikuti latihan atau kelas e-sukan, ekuestrian, renang, sukan bermotor dan taekwondo layak untuk menikmati pelepasan cukai sehingga RM1,000 mulai tahun depan.
PM Anwar beri sumbangan kepada Nur Khayla Azzahra
Sumbangan berkenaan disampaikan Setiausaha Politik beliau Farhan Fauzi yang mewakilinya bertemu Nur Khayla Azzahra dan keluarganya.
Fasa pertama Litar Pasir Gudang dijangka siap dalam tempoh tiga tahun - Tunku Abdul Rahman
Tunku Panglima Johor Tunku Abdul Rahman Sultan Ibrahim menjangkakan fasa pertama 'Johor Circuit' di Litar Pasir Gudang siap dalam tempoh dua hingga tiga tahun.
MYStartup lancar program pemecut ketiga perkasa syarikat pemula niaga
MYStartup terus memperkasa syarikat pemula niaga di Malaysia dengan memulakan program pemecut ketiganya MYStartup Accelerator Kohort 3.
Perdagangan Malaysia meningkat 7.1% tahun ke tahun kepada RM690.59 bilion - MITI
Perdagangan Malaysia bagi Januari hingga Mac 2024 mengekalkan trend peningkatan, merekodkan pertumbuhan 7.1 peratus tahun ke tahun kepada RM690.59 bilion, dengan lebihan dagangan RM34.22 bilion.
Keselamatan makanan, perubahan iklim agenda utama Malaysia selaku Pengerusi ASEAN
Memperkukuh keselamatan makanan serantau dan menangani cabaran mendesak perubahan iklim adalah antara agenda utama yang akan diketengahkan Malaysia apabila memegang tampuk Pengerusi ASEAN.
Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: 'Konflik Israel-Iran bukan urusan kami' - FFC
Misi Break the Siege of Gaza Freedom Flotilla tetap akan diteruskan sekiranya konflik di antara Israel dan Iran terus meningkat.
Jerebu: Netizen Singapura mahu pihak berkuasa Indonesia ambil tindakan
Ketidakpuasan ini disuarakan oleh netizen Singapura setelah indeks standard pencemaran (PSI) berada dalam lingkungan 152 hingga 186 pagi tadi.
#AwaniHaze: Netizen kongsi gambar situasi jerebu
Keadaan jerebu di seluruh negara masih berterusan dan pembaca AstroAwani.com berkongsi keadaan jerebu di kawasan mereka menggunakan hashtag #AwaniHaze.
Najib: Beri keutamaan kepada pencegahan dalam masalah jerebu
Kesan bencana jerebu yang melanda beberapa kawasan di negara ini mendapat perhatian Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.