Local media reported that readings in Serian began to rise from 6pm on Thursday after haze conditions had shown signs of improvement over the preceding 24 hours.
State capital Kuching recorded a reading of 306, followed by Samarahan at 292 and Sri Aman at 241.
Under Malaysia’s API scale, readings above 400 are classified as “very hazardous”. Readings up to 50 are classified as good, 51 to 100 as moderate, 101 to 200 as unhealthy, 201 to 300 as very unhealthy, and 301 to 400 as hazardous.
Sarawak Disaster Management Committee chairman Amar Douglas Uggah Embas previously said a locality would be declared an emergency if its API reading reached 500 under the National Haze Action Plan.
Such a declaration would result in the closure of all public and private sector activities except essential services, he said.
Sarawak borders Indonesia, which is battling fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra where “widespread hotspots” were reported by the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre on Tuesday.
A three-day cloud-seeding operation was launched on Thursday in a bid to ease hazardous haze choking Sarawak, as smoke from Indonesian forest fires pushed air quality to dangerous levels.
The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee had said that the operation also aims to replenish water supplies ahead of expected hotter, drier weather.
Sarawak’s most recent worst air quality level was in 2019, when the API recorded a reading of 405. Meanwhile, the state’s last haze emergency was declared in September 1997, when the API reading peaked at 860.
Previously, Peninsular Malaysia declared a haze emergency in June 2013 across Johor’s Muar and Ledang districts after API readings there surpassed 750 then.
Read the full article here
