Malaysia: Brace for haze, says Meteorological Dept

patrick lee The Star 12 Sep 14;

PETALING JAYA: Smoke from Sumatran fires in Indonesia are expected to cross over into Malaysia soon, the Meteorological Department said on Friday.

Spokesman Dr Hisham Mohd Anip said drier-than-usual weather was in the region, and that winds would carry haze from Indonesian fire hotspots over Malaysia.

"Expect the weather to be a bit drier starting from tomorrow, and also the possibility of haze," he told The Star on Friday.

He added that a tropical cyclone in The Philippines's east was also drawing winds southwest of it, namely from Indonesia and Malaysia.

This, Dr Hisham said, meant that winds from the region would likely push haze clouds over Malaysia.

"These are southwest winds moving northeast. Maybe it will last until the end of next week," he said.

According to a Jakarta Post report, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite detected 225 hotspots across Sumatra on Thursday.

This was an increase of 49 hotspots from the day before, which seemed to be present on the island's Riau, North Sumatra, Jambi and South Sumatra provinces.

Meanwhile, most Malaysian cities on the Peninsular's West Coast appeared to show a mixture of moderate and good air quality readings.

According to the Department of Environment website, the most unhealthy readings in the country were recorded in Malacca's Bukit Rambai.
It had an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 72. Meanwhile, most areas in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur had moderate API readings of between 51 and 60.

More hotspots detected across Sumatra
The Jakarta Post 12 Sep 14;

The NOAA satellite detected 225 hotspots across Sumatra on Thursday, up significantly from 176 hotspots a day earlier, according to data from Riau's Disaster Mitigation Agency received by Antara news agency on Friday.

The hotspots were found in the provinces of Riau, North Sumatra, Jambi and South Sumatra, the data showed.

Most hotspots are allegedly the result of forest fires caused by deliberate slash-and-burn activities by local people to make way for new plantation areas.

Forest fires in Riau frequently cause thick haze to blanket the province and its neighboring areas, including Singapore and Malaysia.

Forest and land fires occurring in Riau between February and April 2014 caused economic losses worth more than Rp 20 trillion, according to data released by the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB).

"It should be kept in mind that once a forest fire breaks out, it will be difficult to extinguish and can cause huge losses," BNPB chief Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The largest loss caused by forest and land fires in Indonesia was in 1997, when fires wiped out millions of hectares of forest and plantation areas with losses estimated at US$2.45 billion. (hhr)