Siak Shrouded in Smoke Haze, the City of the Palace Becomes a Country Above the Clouds

News24xx.com - The magnificent bridge which has a length of 1,196 meters with a width of 16.95 meters, the pride of the Siak community, Monday 9 September 2019, was suddenly invisible due to being blanketed in thick smoke haze.

From a distance, two towers of the bridge that rose as high as 80 meters with a size of 10x5 square meters, were seen wrapped in smoke haze.

The distribution of smog due to karlahut in Siak also made a number of activities paralyzed. Today, all schools in Negeri Timur Timur Palace are forced to send their students home.

Like Rahmat, this elementary school student in Siak who had arrived back at his house around 8:10 WIB, after 1 hour of activities at school, he and hundreds of other students were sent home by the school.

Teachers and parents are very worried about the health of children, due to fear of contracting an acute respiratory infection (ARI) given the thicker haze.

"As parents, we are worried too, sir. Moreover, the condition of the haze today is getting thicker. Alhamdulillah, the school has adopted a policy to dismiss children today, hopefully tomorrow the haze will soon disappear," said Rahmat's parents.

Meanwhile, Head of Disdikbud Siak, Lukman said, the incidental policy must be taken because of the alarming haze conditions.

The school holiday policy starts from PAUD, TK, SD and SMP equals. "But not in all districts. This is in the very thick smog districts, such as Siak, Mempura, Dayun, Apit River, Bungaraya, Pusako, Koto Gasib," he said.
 
The school holiday aims to avoid the risk that children may suffer from smoke haze. Therefore he asked all parents of students not to let children play and wander outside the home.

"If children are left playing biking outside the house the same as not. This is actually not effective either, but what else is the solution to this haze condition. We dismiss the children still by giving homework," Lukman added.

The length of the school holiday cannot be determined yet. Because, if the smoke haze is still concentrated, the vacation time is extended to an unspecified time.