Hazardous air quality in 3 areas of Sarawak as haze worsens

 Serian had the highest air pollution index of 436, followed by Samarahan and Kuching, while Sri Aman and Sarikei had ‘very unhealthy’ air.

Dense smoke pollution obscured the sky over Serian district in Sarawak today as shown in this photo taken at the Serian-Tebedu road. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

Three areas in Sarawak recorded “hazardous” air pollutant index readings, with Serian registering the highest reading at 436 at 6pm, Samarahan at 336 and Kuching at 323.

“Very unhealthy” air quality was recorded in Sri Aman (266) and Sarikei (214).

Seven areas had “unhealthy” air – Sibu (196), Mukah (187), Bintulu (182), Samalaju (175), Miri (162), Kapit (162) and Miri (159).

Elsewhere, Labuan recorded an API reading of 154, Kota Kinabalu in Sabah at 144 and Taiping in Perak at 108.

An API reading of 0 to 50 indicates good air quality, 51 to 100 moderate, 101 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and above 300 hazardous.

Hotspots in Kalimantan and Sumatra are shown in this map by the Asean haze monitoring centre. (ASMC pic)

The Asean haze monitoring centre in its 5.30pm update said unhealthy to hazardous air pollution levels were reported at many air quality stations in Sarawak, western Peninsular Malaysia, west and central Kalimantan, and central and southern Sumatra.

Moderate to dense smoke plumes were observed to emanate from hotspot clusters in many parts of Kalimantan, as well as central and southern Sumatra.

Moderate to dense transboundary smoke plumes were observed to cover west and central Kalimantan, Brunei, and the western and central parts of Sarawak, while moderate plumes from hotspot clusters in North Kalimantan drifted into southern Sabah. - FMT