SHARON LING The Star 23 Sep 15;
KUCHING: More people are seeking treatment for respiratory ailments, likely due to the haze, said doctors in the state.
Dr Wong Mee Heang of a clinic in Batu Kawa said the number of such patients increased by about 20% in the past week.
“We are seeing more asthmatic cases and patients with bronchitis, upper respiratory tract infection, cough and flu,” she said.
She added that these ailments were usually aggravated by haze, which returned yesterday after a brief respite.
Ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Wong Howe Tung said he also saw an increase in such cases.
After four days of relatively clear air conditions, the haze returned to Sarawak yesterday with Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman areas recording unhealthy air quality levels.
Meanwhile, the Singapore-based Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre reported that Kalimantan was still shrouded in smoke and haze as dry weather conditions prevailed.
Images from the NOAA-18 satellite, which tracks open-burning sites larger than 10sq m, showed 475 hotspots in Kalimantan on Monday.
Cyclone making haze worse
RAZAK AHMAD, MUGUNTAN VANAR, AND JOASH EE DE SILVA The Star 23 Sep 15;
PETALING JAYA: The haze is back after a hiatus of several days and the air quality is now getting worse in Sarawak and several other parts of the country.
A cyclone in the Philippines is carrying winds with smoke particles from land-clearing fires in Indonesia towards Malaysia.
Of the 53 areas measured nationwide, the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings rose in 23 of them.
It fell in seven areas and was unchanged in the rest as at 5pm yesterday compared to readings taken in the same period a day earlier.
Kuching was the highest with 127, followed by Samarahan (123) and Sri Aman (121).
In Port Klang, the air quality worsened from 61 to 69; 52 to 56 in Petaling Jaya; 61 to 71 in Larkin; 71 to 78 in Pasir Gudang; 54 to 65 in Kota Baru; and 53 to 69 in Port Dickson.
A reading of 100 to 200 indicates unhealthy air quality; 201 to 300 is very unhealthy; and above 300 is hazardous. A reading of 51 to 100 is moderate.
In Sabah, the air quality worsened in the south-eastern Tawau district while some interior areas were also affected yesterday.
Sabah Meteorological Department director Abdul Malik Tussin said visibility fell to about 4km in Tawau, which borders Kalimantan, where some 78 hotspots were recorded.
In the interiors of Keningau and Ranau, visibility was at 6km and 7km respectively. In Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, it was more than 10km.
“We expect the south-westerly winds to blow until Sept 28, although tropical storms over the South China Sea may help lift the haze briefly from Sabah,” said Abdul Malik.
In Kuching, Sarawak, poor visibility yesterday caused two flights to be cancelled while 13 others were delayed.
Kuching International Airport senior manager Mohd Nadzim Hashim said visibility there dropped to a mere 1km.
In a statement yesterday, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said satellite imagery showed more than 470 hotspots in Kalimantan and 26 in Sumatra.
MOSTI Ready For Cloud Seeding If Haze Returns - Madius
Bernama 21 Sep 15;
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) is on a standby mode to conduct another cloud seeding operation as the haze is expected to return within this week, said its minister Datuk Madius Tangau.
"We have been informed that the hazy condition will return anytime this week, however cloud seeding will only be carried out if the Air Pollutant Index readings exceed 100 for three days in a row.
"Till then we will be on a standby mode to face any possibilities of the returning haze," he said after officiating The International Science and Nature Congress (ISNaC) 2015, here Monday.
The Star daily quoting the Meteorological Department spokesperson Dr Hisham Mohd Anip said a potential cyclone is building up on the eastern side of the Philippines that was likely to pull winds, bringing the haze back from Indonesia to Malaysia.
This is expected to happen from tomorrow and could last until early next month, based on how strong the cyclone turns out to be and the number of fires raging in Indonesia.
Last Wednesday's cloud seeding operations in northern Selangor, southern Perak and west Pahang had successfully generated rainfall in those areas.
The country was shrouded in haze since last week due to the forest fires in Indonesia, causing schools in several states to be closed and several airlines having to reschedule their flight.
-- BERNAMA
