DKSG

The haze gotten worse after I blogged about it last night. The 3 hour PSI reading peaked at 321 at 10pm last night, entering the hazardous range. The is the highest PSI ever recorded in Singapore.

NEA held a press conference last night at 11:30pm. I guess the situation is serious enough to warrant a late night media briefing. But here is the interesting thing. The press release issued by NEA didn’t mention anything about the 3 hour PSI reading at 10pm reaching the hazardous range of 321. Instead, it mentioned the 3 hour PSI reading at 11pm which is slightly lower at 282.

Why is NEA afraid to acknowledge the fact that our 3 hour PSI reading crossed the 300 mark yesterday?

In fact, it seems like NEA is afraid to mention that the 3 hour PSI reading crossed the 300 mark. The NEA website wasn’t updated with the 10pm PSI reading until around 10:50pm. Why the 50 minutes delay? According to CNA, the NEA website wasn’t updating due to high traffic. OK, but why didn’t NEA inform the traditional media about the PSI reading if there is an error on their website? After all, the reading reached the 300 hazardous range. Isn’t there a need to inform the public as soon as possible so that everyone can stay indoor and avoid outdoor activities?

And why didn’t NEA publish the PSI reading on their Twitter account if their website is down? Is NEA trying to tell everyone that if the website is down due to high traffic, there is no way for them to retrieve the PSI reading and spread the info? If that is the case, then something is seriously wrong with the system and it needs to be rectified immediately.

Some netizen got curious about the 3 hour PSI reading and wonder what is the exact hourly PSI reading. We don’t know the exact way to calculate the 3 hour PSI reading. All we know that it is the average PSI reading from the past 3 hours. @KingMeng on Twitter did some reverse calculation using the 3 hour PSI reading. His calculation is based on the assumption that the first 3 Hour PSI reading of the day is the actual PSI reading. The second 3 Hour PSI reading of the day is the average of the first and second hour.

Using this assumption, we are able to reverse calculate the actual PSI reading for the hour.

Assuming that this formula is correct, then the actual PSI reading at 9pm is quite alarming.

If the calculation is correct, then the actual PSI reading at 9pm is at 452. That is at the very hazardous range and may be life-threatening to ill and elderly persons. If this is really true, then why didn’t NEA alert the public immediately? I know we always take the 3 hour average PSI reading. But if the actual PSI reading for the hour crossed the 400 mark, there should be protocols to alert the public immediately.

Is NEA trying to downplay the haze situation? I hope not. The public need to know all these information so that we can better prepare ourselves.

The PSI Index hit 190 at 8pm today, making it the worst haze reading since September 1997, when PSI peaked at 226. And it might get worst based on the Regional Haze Map by NEA.

I hope I am wrong here. But it seems like the wind is blowing the dense haze towards Singapore. If that is true, then the haze might get worse.

Here’s a photo of Singapore Central Business District that I took today afternoon. Looks pretty bad.

It is interesting to note that until now, the Indonesia Government still didn’t reveal the companies behind the fire. I believe if the Indonesia Government name those company, the general public can pressurise them to do something about the fire. Why is the Indonesia Government protecting the identity of those companies?

And even though Singapore offered assistance to put out the fire, the Indonesia government still refuse to accept any foreign assistance. Is it ego issue or they want the fire to continue burning?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Update at 19 June, 9pm: PSI Index is now 290. Highest ever recorded in Singapore.

The haze is here again. The PSI Index hit 155 yesterday at 10pm, the highest level since 2006.

It is the same old story happening again and again. Fire from Sumatra combined with wind blowing the haze towards our direction. It seems like there is nothing we can do besides praying that the wind direction to change.

This is not the first time the haze is happening. It happens every year. I just cannot understand why Singapore and Malaysia cannot pressurize Indonesia to do more about the fire in Sumatra. No point calling Indonesia only when the haze is here. We need to find a way to reduce and prevent the haze.

And since Vivian Balakrishnan is no longer having coffee Low Thia Khiang, why not have coffee with his Indonesia counterpart and discuss how we can prevent the haze from happening every year.