Indonesian airport opens health post amid wildfire haze
The Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, Indonesia opened a health post for passengers who were exposed to the haze from Sumatran forest fires. The health post will be open as long as the city is still affected by the haze.
“We have readied medicines and masks for outgoing and arriving passengers,” Coordinator of the second-class airport of Pekanbaru Albert Jefferson said to Antara News.
Aside from respiratory risks for passengers, forest fires caused reduced visibility resulting to delayed or cancelled flights. Last September 5, the haze reduced visibility to 200m delaying morning flights. The haze cleared up in the afternoon, and flights resumed when the visibility was back to 1000m.
In the whole Riau province, Pelalawan District is the most affected with visibility reduced to 50 meters.
Wildfires are paralyzing operations at Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru since early September.
