Haze can waste your money

First, the news of the cancellation of FIT Malaysia came in yesterday morning due to haze. Next, the news of the cancellation of the Merdeka Community came in this morning, also due to haze.

Both the events are supposed to cheer up Malaysian, one on the field of Dataran Pahlawan and the other within the compound of Dataran MBMB (MBMB stand for Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah or Historical Melaka City Council) No one expected this.

Both the locations are located within the Melaka City where the entire population of Melaka is more likely to be affected by very unhealthy indexes that ranges between 201 to 300. (What does Range 201 to 300 means? It means that all active children and adults, and people with respiratory diseases, such as asthma or several other related health conditions should avoid all outdoor exertion; and everyone else, should limit outdoor exertion.)

According to Wiki, Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon in which dust, smoke, and other dry particulates obscure the clarity of the sky. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haze)

Haze can be irritating to the eyes and nostril and at the same time the low visibility of the atmosphere is not good for driving a vehicle, not to mention walking on the streets of Melaka.

A city of low elevation haze is experienced all over Melaka and is particularly higher in Bukit Rambai, the northern part of Melaka.

Fine particles of dust carried from the smoke of forest fires by the wind as well as that comes from factories, often cause a haze which extends over hundreds of kilometers.

Serious haze was noted in the late 1980s and some of the 1990s. Very unhealthy records of haze happened between 1997 and 1998. After that periods, haze recurred regularly resembling a yearly affair.

An affair, to feel sad and to love.

One example of why man feel sad is the cancellation of the FIT Malaysia and the Merdeka Community.

One example of why man love is the news of extra-ordinary holidays due to closure of schools, or closure of constant smoke-emitting factories, for example, welding works.

The haze crisis in 1997 affected millions of people and caused losses in the transport, tourism, construction (Look out through your car window and see if the Tower Crane is working on high-rise construction site), forestry and agriculture sectors.

The first meeting on haze was held in December 1997 by ASEAN Ministers and today after 22 years, man is still unable to prevent haze.

Without spending money, how to plan FIT Malaysia and Merdeka Community, for example. Without spending money, how to coordinate and how to organize all works to the success of the events. Haze has wasted the resources at the very last minutes to these events and has disappointed every person, whether they are guests, hosts, organizers or participants.

Cloud seeding is within reach as a method to reduce the severity of haze momentarily within a calculated area and there is no guarantee that same particular area needs cloud seeding more less than once. There again, money has to be used for cloud seeding. 

Is haze good for newborns who would take their first breath of 201-300 quality air and what is the consequential damages to them as they grow into adulthood? What are the costs for them to repetitively recover from permanent recurring damages later in life? 

And who can help them and give them assurances of assistance to cope with the costs of medical bills in due course?