George Francis, Brunei Online 4 Aug 09;
MIRI - Hundreds of hotspots in Kalimantan, Indonesia and 21 in Sarawak, Malaysia in the past 24 hours have shrouded bigger cities such as Kuching and Miri, as well as Bintulu town in a veil of smog, a meteorological official said.
"These hotspots and the wind blowing from southwesterly direction at the moment plus the dry weather condition are causing the haze, and if the dry weather persists, the situation may get worse with the number of hotspots increasing," he told the Bulletin.
A satellite image from the north of Sarawak, he said, showed a concentration of hotspots in the Miri-Bintulu border region, which could have contributed to the haze in Miri.
Miri city secretary Antonio Galis said the hazy condition has been brought on by scattered wildfires over the past days in the outskirts of the city, and some people were burning grass at their backyards or farming illegally on vacant land along certain roads.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah reportedly said in Miri that taking concrete actions were essential as haze seemed to be making its annual return to the region.
He said there seemed to be more hot spots in Kalimantan and Sumatra, most of which were due to wildfires and uncontrolled burning of farms.
He confirmed hotspots are also spotted in Sarawak, as well as in Peninsula Malaysia.
Haze worsens
Florence A. Samy, The Star 4 Aug 09;
PETALING JAYA: The haze has worsened with five areas hitting the unhealthy mark as hotspots in Indonesia continue to rage intensely due to the prevailing dry weather.
According to satellite images, the number of hotspots in Borneo swelled to 877 yesterday, with 383 detected in Sumatra Tuesday.
However, some hotspots in Sumatra were not detected as it was under cloudy conditions.
The smog smell was also quite distinct Tuesday in some parts of the Klang Valley given the deteriorated air quality.
The transboundary haze had also reduced visibility levels in some parts of the country to as low as 1km in Bintulu and Miri, Sarawak, 2km in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, 3km in Petaling Jaya and Alor Star and 4km in Subang and Butterworth respectively.
The number of areas with an unhealthy air pollutant index (API) increased from one on Monday evening to five as of 5pm Tuesday, mainly in Sarawak, according to the Department of Environment website.
Four areas in Sarawak - Bintulu, Miri, Samarahan, Sibu - recorded unhealthy readings of between 110 and 153 while Port Klang became the first unhealthy area with a 113 reading.
Another four areas were heading towards the unhealthy mark with its an API of at least 90.
(A good reading is from 0-50, moderate 51-100, unhealthy 101-200, very unhealthy 201-299 and hazardous 300 and above).
As of 5pm Tuesday, 41 areas in the country or 83% recorded moderate air quality. Readings in the Klang Valley were mostly between the 70 to 79 API range except for Kuala Selangor which recorded a 91API.
Only three areas had good readings, namely Langkawi with an API of 36, Kangar, Perlis (48) and Sandakan, Sabah (49), compared to 13 at 11am on Monday.
According to the Singapore Meteorological Services website, clusters of hotspots emitted moderate to dense smoke haze in Sumatra includign Riau.
“In Borneo, moderate to dense smoke plumes were observed to be emanating from large clusters of hotspots in West Kalimantan and Sarawak,” the website stated.
According to the Malaysian Meteorological Services website, poor visibility levels were recorded in most parts of Sarawak.
Most areas recorded moderate readings while 11 locations registered normal visibility levels of above 10km.
