PUTRAJAYA: The air quality in Sri Aman worsened to the hazardous level today due to its location, which is close to the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, said the Department of Environment (DoE).
The Air Pollutant Index (API) reading in Sri Aman was recorded at 367 at 10am.
DoE in a statement said four stations had registered an API reading of very unhealthy today due to the cross-border haze as well as several bush fires reported in Johan Setia, Klang, Selangor.
The four stations were Johan Setia (235), Kuching in Sarawak (220), Nilai (205) and Port Dickson (213) in Negeri Sembilan.
Based on the Singapore-based Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) report yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite image detected 243 hotspots in Sumatra, 452 in Kalimantan, and 21 in Malaysia, namely Johor (three), Sabah (one) and Sarawak (17).
A regional haze Map released by the ASMC yesterday (Sept 16) showed that hotspots in Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra, Indonesia continued to produce moderate to dense smoke haze which affected western, southern and central states of the Peninsular Malaysia .
“Some of the smoke haze has been blown by the prevailing winds to affect Sabah and Sarawak, causing an increase in the API readings in those areas,” said DoE.
It said cloud-seeding operations were conducted yesterday in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Malacca to reduce haze in the affected areas.
The haze problem also forced 500 schools in Sarawak and 170 schools in Selangor and Putrajaya to be closed today. — Bernama
