These Young Malaysians Are Looking For Donors To Help Kalimantan Haze Victims

Indonesia is the world largest palm oil producer and to sustain the increasing demand for palm oil, there is a great need for extensive acres of lands for oil palm plantation.

To cut costs and increase profits, fires are usually intentionally lit by certain plantation owners to clear lands to make way for oil palm plantation instead of using the traditional, costly method of using bulldozers.

The dry weather, heat and the lack of rain results in all the surrounding areas of the burning peatlands to catch fire, causing a worrying amount of haze released into the air from the fires.

While Malaysians and Singaporeans aren't expected to count their blessings that the haze in Malaysia this year isn't as bad as the last time it hit us, it is a known fact that the country that the haze originated from is facing the worst effects of the haze.

Malaysia refers to the API to measure the haze levels, while Indonesia and Singapore use the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) which has the same measurement level as API.

Since most of the fires were started from forests in Kalimantan and Sumatera, the surrounding areas of these places are hit with an alarming amount of haze, going way beyond hazardous levels, making those places almost uninhabitable.

The haze this year is being referred to as the worst haze to hit Southeast Asian countries in the past years, as it coincides with the El Nino phenomenon.

El Nino is an abnormal weather pattern, whereby the warming of the Pacific waters heats the air and obstructs with cloud formations and disrupts rainfall.

Thus, the hindering of cloud formations lead to problems in cloud seeding plans and reducing any chance of rainfall to calm the fires.

Any reading above 300 is considered as hazardous and has the potential to cause long term, serious health issues, mostly related to the respiratory system.

The thick blanket of haze completely immersed with dangerous air pollutants have turned these places in Indonesia into an acrid smelling, yellow-tinged cities.

The health issues that may arise from the continuous haze can cause multiple health effects including, respiratory illness, cell damage in respiratory system, decreased lung function and even accelerated aging of the lungs.

With the people being exposed to these dangerous levels of air pollution, there is a potential for some to develop diseases such as bronchitis, emphysema and respiratory infections.

For the sick, elderly and the children, the haze can even be fatal as it could cause heart attacks, severe breathing difficulties, and aggravate asthma.

Responding to the seriousness of the situation, the Indonesian government, yesterday, informed that they will be evacuating people from Central Kalimantan to South Kalimantan, where the air quality is reportedly better.

While it may seem like there is little we can do to help our neighbours in Indonesia choking on the haze, a trio of young college students proved that all it takes is a great deal of compassion and a little effort to lend a helping hand.

The Care 4 Kalimantan campaign is spearheaded by the 22-year-old Heong Kian Kee representing the Rotaract Club of Bangsar and aided by his friends, Nur Farella Najib and Jaishin Singh under the Rotary International District 3300 Malaysia.

The aim of the campaign is to raise donations in the form of cash or medical items from the public for the people in the haze engulfed areas of Kalimantan.

These two Indonesian organisations will be helping the Care 4 Kalimantan team to distribute the safety items to the people.

The items that you can donate for this cause are; N95 masks, eye drops and adult safety goggles.

Should you wish to make cash donations, you can bank in the funds directly into the Rotaract Club of Bangsar's CIMB Bank account (AC No: 1-402-015-9497000).

Thus, the Care 4 Kalimantan teams have decided to send a team of 10 volunteers to villages and rural areas in Kalimantan where the less fortunate are not completely aware of the of haze and its effects on the human body.

A portion of the funds from the donation will be used to aid the team to educate the forgotten people living in haze-laden towns of Indonesia.

Kian Kee stressed that once they have a substantial amount of masks, goggles and eye drops, a small team including himself will be formed and help will be sent over right away.

A lot of attention has been channeled to the nature and wildlife being destroyed by the minute due to the forest fires, while the masses are still unaware of the terrible conditions the people in Indonesia are forced to live with because of the haze.

So, if you wish to be a part of the cause determined to educate the people, this is how you can do so: