Serian, Kuching air quality close to ‘very unhealthy’

 Smoke haze pollution brings 'unhealthy' air in 8 other parts of Sarawak, with Melaka also affected.

Central Kuching shown shrouded in smoke haze pollution on Aug 20, when an air pollutant index of 180 was recorded. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

Air quality in Serian and Kuching was close to “very unhealthy” level this afternoon with an air pollution index figure of 197 in Serian and 191 in Kuching, according to the environment department’s air pollution index management system.

“Unhealthy” air quality was also recorded in eight other areas of Sarawak – Samarahan (178), Sri Aman (177), Sarikei (171), Sibu (160), Mukah (158), Bintulu (157), Samalaju (153), and Miri (136).

Bukit Rambai in Melaka also recorded an “unhealthy” level with an API reading of 152, Bernama reported. Other areas of the country recorded moderate air quality, while none had “good” air quality.

API readings of 0 to 50 are categorised as good, 51 to 100 as moderate, 101 to 200 as unhealthy, 201 to 300 as very unhealthy, and above 300 as hazardous.

Air quality in major cities of Sarawak has worsened from haze smoke pullution, with the Asean haze centre reporting hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan. (ASMC pic)

A senior environment department official, Azuri Azizah Saedon, said air quality had deteriorated with an increase due to the movement of smoke from various directions.

Azuri Azizah Saedon.

Azuri Azizah said seven hotspots were detected in Sarawak, two each in Johor, Pahang and Terengganu, and one each in Kelantan and Melaka.

The Asean haze centre reported 425 hotspots in Kalimantan yesterday, and 187 in Sumatra, compared to 15 hotspots in Malaysia.

Azuri Azizah said the Asean regional haze map showed dry weather in southern Asean with clusters of hotspots in several areas of Kalimantan. Moderate smoke plumes were observed in the central and southern parts of Sumatra and moderate haze in Borneo.

She said that 838 hotspots were monitored nationwide until August and 6,603 cases of open burning were investigated so far this year.

Cloud-seeding operations could be carried out when the API exceeds 150 for more than 24 hours, subject to the presence of clouds and suitable weather conditions, she said.

The Asean haze monitoring centre has given warning of an increased likelihood of transboundary haze due to the escalating hotspot and smoke haze situation, particularly in areas facing prolonged dry conditions, with prevailing winds expected to blow from the southeast or south.

It said this evening that clusters of scattered hotspots were detected in west and south Kalimantan, with isolated hotspots also identified in other parts of the Indonesian province.

The centre also detected isolated hotspots in central and southern Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Java and Sulawesi, while moderate to dense smoke plumes were observed in parts of Kalimantan and Sumatra.

A level 2 alert remains in effect for southern Asean.

The centre forecast dry conditions over most of the southern Asean region in the coming days, while showers are expected over northern Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and northern Borneo. Showers are forecast over most of northern Asean.

While hotspots and localised smoke plumes may emerge in drier areas, the overall haze situation is forecast to remain subdued, with prevailing winds over the northern Asean region expected to blow mainly from the southwest. - FMT