KUALA LUMPUR: Four areas in Sarawak recorded “hazardous” air quality on Monday (Aug 31), the second day running that Malaysia has hit such levels as it continues to grapple with haze linked to forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia.
Air quality in the country began to reach hazardous levels over the weekend.
Sarawak’s Serian district recorded the worst Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 475 at 9am on Monday, followed by Samarahan at 334, Sri Aman at 330 and Kuching at 324.
Another three areas in the East Malaysian state – Sarikei, Sibu and Mukah – recorded “very unhealthy” air quality, with API readings of 271, 219 and 214 respectively.
Another 14 locations in the country – in Sarawak, Kedah, Penang, Labuan, Sabah and Perak – observed “unhealthy” air quality, the Department of Environment, under Malaysia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Under Malaysia’s API scale, readings above 300 are classified as hazardous. Readings up to 50 are classified as good, 51 to 100 as moderate, 101 to 200 as unhealthy, and 201 to 300 as very unhealthy.
The Department of Environment said air quality across the country has deteriorated, including in parts of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia as well as in Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan due to the “movement of haze from various directions”.
Areas with unhealthy air quality included Taiping in Perak with an API of 150, Seberang Jaya in Penang (156) and Sungai Petani in Kedah (157).
In Sabah, the Kota Kinabalu Polytechnic monitoring station recorded an API of 111 while Tawau registered 153.
Citing an Aug 30 report by the Singapore-based ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre, the Department of Environment said satellite images showed 324 hotspots in Kalimantan and 42 in Sumatra.
Only two hotspots were detected in Malaysia – one each in Perak and Sarawak.
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