6/24/2013
When PSI hits 700, work from home
When PSI 300 is very unhealthy, when PSI above 400 is hazardous, life goes on. No emergency will be declared. Put on your masks and soldier on to keep the economy going. For those vulnerable groups, put on your H95s when outdoor.
At what level of PSI would there be an emergency declared, 700 or 800? Or is it 700 on an hourly reading or 700 on the 24 hour average? Would haze kill at 700 or 800? Maybe not, maybe not immediately. Maybe the symptoms will show in 5 or 10 years down the road.
Assuming that the medical specialists have worked out a number to declare an emergency and all should stay indoors or at home, the best thing then will be to work from home. Some may want to work from their Johore or Iskandar homes. Unfortunately the haze situation there could be much worst than over here. For those with homes in Australia, New Zealand, UK or France, working from home could be nice.
With today’s technology and communication, internet, mobile phones, satellites, working from home in any part of the world can be a reality. A speech on TV from the Istana or from Perth or London would just look the same. 3 ways, many ways live conferences can always be hooked up. And if one has a home in Paris, can sign up for a cooking class at the same time. In Australia, one can park in a vineyard and work from there. Really nice?
Working from home will take on a new meaning, for those with the means. We can even locate our govt overseas temporarily if the haze situation gets pass the emergency level. Come to think of it, I quite like the idea. The Govt should start to explore this idea of an office in one of our overseas training venues and the whole cabinet cum permanent secretaries can be relocated when needed. The world is our oyster.
Science fiction? Not really. Obama’s office will be in Air Force One when the US home land is under attack. In the mean time we can teach the Indonesians that they can arrange meetings with the plantation owners and work out something on a win win basis, maybe with Singapore and Malaysian participations. Singapore and Malaysia can bring a few blank cheques along just in case. There must be a way where money can do the trick for a more permanent solution. With money, all problems can be solved, and haze is not something that is so formidable that money cannot help. Any problem that can be solved with money can be solved. And we are damn good at it. Tiok boh? Even the Indonesian ministers have admitted it. It is only how much. We must not insult them by offering peanuts. Make it meaningful.
Putin, the one man in the way of the Western Mafia
They wanted regime change in Syria. They wanted President Assad out, replaced. They wanted to arm the rebels, send in Nato troops, bomb Syria. The only thing or man standing in the way is Russia’s Putin. He is a one man show, a Rambo in his own way. He told the Evil Empire and its cronies to lay off Syria.
Putin will support Assad and will not have him removed. The fabricated evidence of Assad’s troops using chemical was bluntly brushed off as nonsense. Putin is not going to let the western mafia push him around and intervene, invade Syria and replace Assad. He stood by Assad as the legitimate leader of Syria.
The G8 ie the western mafia plus Russia, held a meeting to push through their agenda, to remove Assad but ended with red faces when Putin alone refused to budge. Assad is safe with Putin. Obama and his Evil Empire just cannot bull doze through this Russian Rambo.
Actually not really true. Though the West could not get the G8 to come up with a position and stand to intervene in the Syrian War at the meeting, they are still going to bull doze their way by training and supplying arms to the rebels.
Are we prepared for a haze emergency?
This has been the question in everyone’s mind. And the answer is obviously no. There was no standing committee on standby for such an eventuality. The only committee to deal with a haze crisis is still in the pipeline with Eng Hen being appointed to look into it. The distribution of N95 masks in the stockpile is another piece of evidence that even this is an issue. They are still distributing the masks after one week. If it is a deadly epidemic, a few days are all it takes to take down a big portion of the population. Perhaps no one sees this as a crisis. The crossing of the 400 PSI was still treated as normal. And to minimize the concern, the people were told to look at 24 hours average than the real PSI at the moment. And many have pointed this out as a major flaw and mistake in thinking that an average reading is more relevant than the actual situation. Unbelieveable, really!
So, how proactive are we in tackling such a national crisis? There was no emergency procedures on hand and everyone was looking at one another second guessing what should be done next.
On the other hand there could be some emergency procedures in hand but not realized or understood. Everyone was looking for a haze emergency procedure. What about the SARS emergency procedure? Could not this be activated? The similarities are there and the procedures and steps needed to be taken can be quite similar with some modifications or omissions.
But Singaporean thinking is such that they are looking for a specific sign, like a U Turn sign to make a U Turn. So if the emergency procedure does not have the word haze on it, and worst, if it is stated clearly for SARS, then it cannot be applied to a haze problem.
The way the masks were distributed, it makes people wonder whether it is a new procedure that was worked out in the morning or was is an emergency procedure that has been thought through and planned well in advance. The execution was slow and inefficient in every sense. It was a few army boys trying to do some logistic delivery tasks.
The obvious is that all the medical and grassroot institutions could be mobilized into a distribution network. The CCs, RCs and the Neighbourhood Police Posts, NTUC FairPrice or even Seven Eleven could make reaching out to the people more penetrating and extensive.
And why are the men from the Civil Defence not activated? This is a job cut out for them. And the air raid siren would definitely come in very useful to sound the alarm when the PSI hits 300 or 400, to tell the people to go indoors. The tricky part is whether it should blare at 3 am in the morning to wake everyone up from their sleep.
Maybe all this will take shape after a haze emergency task force is formed and the details worked out. For the moment we shall thank God that we had a near miss, a lucky escape. We are given a second chance to sort things out, to get things right and to protect our backside safely the next time round.
6/23/2013
PM Najib declares emergency in Muar and Ledang, API surpasses 750
Author: Online Press
(KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Jun): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has declared emergency in Muar and Ledang districts with immediate effect after API readings in the two areas surpassed the 750 mark.
Earlier, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G Palanivel earlier this morning had said Muar recorded the highest with 750, followed by Bukit Rambai, Malacca (357) and Malacca City with (364).
The highest API ever recorded in Malaysia was in Sarawak in 1997 with reading of 860….
The above is reposted in TRE. The Malaysians are using the API system. I am not sure of the equivalent to the PSI. Whatever, the situation is dire. If this were to hit us today, many of us will still be having problems getting our N95. But staying in doors and using wet towels should help at least.
The respite we have may not last and the PSI could go north again, like in Muar. Be prepared.
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