pollution

Last week, Singapore's Pollution Standard Index (PSI) peaked at 401 — a point where simply breathing becomes potentially fatal for the sick or elderly, and far higher than the country's previous record of 266, seen in 1997. Schools were closed, deliveries came to a halt, and protective masks were flying off hospital shelves.

The smog finally began clearing away from the city earlier this week, when Indonesian emergency workers waterbombed the Sumatran fires that caused this year’s miasma. The most noxious clouds have since drifted northward to Malaysia, and experts warn that the haze could linger throughout the region for weeks, if not months.