Malaysia: Sarawak’s haze situation improving

ADIB POVERA New Straits Times 25 Aug 15;

KUCHING: The rain must have swept away some dust particles this morning as the haze situation in Sarawak showed slight improvement today.

As at 7am, the three divisions in the southern part of the state, which had registered an unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API yesterday, recorded a moderate reading).

According to the Environment Department’s website, the API reading for Sri Aman, which was the worst affected division, has dropped from an unhealthy reading of 107 last night to a moderate level of 88.

The same trend was detected in Kuching and Samarahan where the API has dropped to 93 and 91respectively.

The two divisions recorded an unhealthy API reading of 105 and 108 respectively the day before.


Unhealthy air index recorded in several parts of Sarawak

New Straits Times 24 Aug 15;

KUCHING: Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman recorded unhealthy air, with a reading of the Air Pollutant Index (API) exceeding 100, as at 8 pm yesterday.

The Department of Environment (DOE), in its website, stated that Sarawak was the only state which recorded unhealthy air, with the API reading in Kuching at 107, while in Samarahan and Sri Aman at 120.

The air in Kuching recorded an API of 101 at 8am today and in Samarahan, the API was 108 at 6am.

Sri Aman recorded the highest API, at 120 at 6am and increased to 126 at 6pm, but improved slightly with an API reading of 120 an hour later.

An API reading at between 0 and 50 is good; 51 and 100 (moderate); 101 and 200 (unhealthy); 201 and 300 (very unhealthy); and more than 301 (hazardous).

--BERNAMA