Malaysia: Cleaner air over weekend, but haze back on Tuesday

The Star 18 Sep 15;

PETALING JAYA: Eastern winds are expected to blow the haze away this evening, giving Malaysians cleaner air over the weekend.

However, the Malaysian Meteoro­logical Department (MetMalaysia) said this would be temporary, with winds ready to bring the haze back from Indonesia on Tuesday.

“By tomorrow evening, we expect the wind to change direction by coming from the east. However, this is only temporary.

“By Tuesday, the wind might come from (the) south (from Indonesia) again,” said MetMalaysia spokesman Dr Hisham Mohd Anip yesterday.

He said Sarawak, which might also have clearer skies over the weekend, would see the haze coming back there on Monday evening, earlier than the peninsula.

As of 4pm yesterday, Samarahan recorded an Air Pollutant Index reading of 199 with Kuching at 192.

A downpour over parts of the peninsula cleared skies in some states, though certain areas such as Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur hovered at the 101 unhealthy mark.

Dr Hisham said rains in the peninsula were natural.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Madius Tangau said cloud-seeding was carried out in Malacca, north Johor and Negri Sembilan yesterday.

However, cloud-seeding in Sarawak yesterday could not be carried out since the weather was not good enough for rain clouds to form and the haze made flying too dangerous.

Too hazy to study in Sarawak
The Star 18 Sep 15;

KUCHING: Schools were closed and flights disrupted as air quality reached very unhealthy levels with the index exceeding 200 in parts of Sarawak.

The Air Pollutant Index (API) reached 209 in Kuching at 10am and 210 in Samarahan at 11am yesterday, forcing 463 schools in both divisions to be closed.

The state Education Department issued an advisory to close the schools early yesterday morning when the API was hovering near 200.

An API of 101-200 is considered unhealthy while 201-300 is very unhealthy.

Some 184,808 students and 15,162 teachers were affected by the closure.

In a statement yesterday evening, the Education Ministry said these schools would remain closed today.

It added that the district education office and schools had been directed to inform parents and guardians about the closure.

Fireman Wan Afzal Wan Abdul Rahman, 40, said he was worried when he heard about the closure on radio at 8am.

“I immediately rushed to school to pick up my daughter, who is in Year Three. It’s worrying because the air is not healthy,” he said.

Morzeyan Jumat, 35, said she had to pick up her four children, who are in kindergarten up to Form One, from four different schools.

“It’s good that the schools are closed as it’s getting difficult to breathe,” she said.

Headmistress Liaw Hui Lin said parents had already been calling her school since early morning before she received the official notification at about 8.25am.

“Even this morning a lot of students were not around as the air was unhealthy and we understand why parents don’t want their children to be in school,” she said yesterday.

Serina Lim, who owns a dance and fitness centre with her husband, said her family was increasing their water intake and getting creative with assorted fruit juices to cope with the hazy conditions.

“My husband has had to use inhalers for the first time in his life and our toddler’s sensitive skin has been flaring up since the haze started. Because of this, we have just invested in two air purifiers,” she added.

By 3pm, Malaysia Airports Bhd confirmed that four flights could not land at Kuching International Airport and had to be diverted while another five flights from Kuching were cancelled.

The affected flights were those to and from Kuala Lumpur, Tanjung Manis, Pontianak and Mulu.

Disruptions to schedules were severe, affecting Malaysia Airlines, MASwings, AirAsia and Xpress Air.

Seven flights took off late while 11 more could not land on time.

Airport general manager Mohd Nadzim Hashim said 3,619 passengers were affected.