THE air quality in Sri Aman, Sarawak has reached hazardous levels at 8am today, with a reading of 402 on the air pollutant index (API) as the area continued to be enveloped by smoke from a raging forest fire.

It was reported yesterday that the Fire and Rescue Department has been trying for at least three days to fight raging forest fires covering an area of 400ha in Sri Aman.

A reading of 0-50 indicates good air quality, followed by moderate (51-100), unhealthy (101-200), very unhealthy (201-300) and hazardous (300 and above).

Four areas in Sarawak, namely Sibu (202), Sarikei, (234) Kuching (248) and Samarahan (218) continued to record very unhealthy air quality this morning.

There were 22 areas nationwide which registered unhealthy air quality, while 39 locations experienced moderate air quality.

As of yesterday, some 2,600 schools have remained closed due to the haze, affecting more than 1.7 million students.

Sarawak has the most affected schools at 987, followed by Selangor (939), Penang (399), Kuala Lumpur (296) and Putrajaya (25), according to the Education Ministry in a statement yesterday

Meanwhile, according to the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), smoke originating from Sumatra continued to affect parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

“The rainband associated with Tropical Storm Tapah continues to bring showers over many parts of the northern Asean region. In the southern Asean region, dry weather continues to persist over most parts of the region, except for northern Sumatra where showers fell there,” it said.

“Persistent hotspots emitting moderate to dense smoke continue to be observed in central and southern Sumatra, mostly in the Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra and Lampung provinces. The smoke from Sumatra continues to affect parts of Peninsular Malaysia,” it added.

Meanwhile, smoke from hotspot clusters which persisted in South, West and Central Kalimantan in the Indonesian territory of Borneo Island, continued to blow towards Western Sarawak and the adjacent South China Sea area.

Poor visibility due to smoke was also reported in parts of Sabah and Brunei Darussalam. 

“For the next few days, wet weather is forecast in the northern Asean region, and winds are expected to be variable in direction. In the southern Asean region, isolated showers over parts of Sarawak and northern parts of Kalimantan may develop toward the end of the week. However, dry weather is likely to persist in central and southern Sumatra,” the centre said on the weather outlook for the next few days.

“Winds are forecast to continue blowing from the southeast or south. The hotspot activities in Sumatra and Kalimantan are expected to persist, and many parts of the southern Asean region may continue to experience hazy conditions,” it added. – September 20, 2019.