Haze situation worsens

KUALA LUMPUR: The haze situation in some parts of Peninsular Malaysia worsened, with the air pollutant index (API) at unhealthy levels in some places, especially in Selangor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
In Selangor, the worse-hit area was Port Klang, with an API reading of 167 followed by Kuala Selangor (159), Banting (136), Shah Alam (126) and Petaling Jaya (123).
The Department of Environment, which is closely monitoring the haze situation nationwide, also recorded API readings of 151 in Cheras and 108 in Batu Muda in Kuala Lumpur while the reading in Seremban was 114 and 111 in Nilai.
In view of the worsening haze situation, the Health Ministry has advised Malaysians to remain indoors if possible and seek medical help if they suffer from breathing difficulties and skin, eye or nose irritation and itch.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the cloud-seeding operation scheduled for today and yesterday have been put on hold to give priority to efforts to locate a missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft.
Meteorological Department Atmospheric Science and Cloud Seeding Division director Azhar Ishak said according to the original plan, the cloud-seeding operation was supposed to continue until March 16.
Cloud-seeding has been carried out in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor to improve water levels at dams in the Klang Valley due to the current dry spell.