Air quality at unhealthy levels in 8 areas
PETALING JAYA : Air quality in several parts of Peninsular Malaysia reached unhealthy levels over the past 24 hours, as escalating forest and land fires in Sumatra caused smoke haze to drift into parts of Malaysia
Alor Gajah in Melaka was the worst affected, with an average air pollutant index reading of 160 at 9am, with similar levels in Temerloh, Pahang (156); Banting, Selangor (155); Nilai, Negeri Sembilan (155); Kemaman, Terengganu (153); Johan Setia, Selangor (152); Cheras, Kuala Lumpur (151); and Putrajaya (124).
Moderate air quality was reported in 57 areas.
The data, from the environment department's air pollutant index management system, represents an average of readings taken over 24 hours and updated hourly. An index figure of below 50 indicates good air quality, 51-100 moderate, 101-200 unhealthy, 201-300 very unhealthy, and above 300 hazardous.
Indonesia is set to begin cloud seeding operations in Riau province today, to combat escalating forest and land fires which are causing haze to drift into parts of Malaysia, reported Reuters.
A spokesman for Indonesia's national disaster mitigation agency said the operation would continue for at least seven days.
Data from Indonesia's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency indicated 1,208 fire hotspots across Sumatra as of Sunday, with 586 located in Riau alone.
Indonesian broadcaster Metro TV reported that haze from these fires has already reached parts of Malaysia.
Environment department director-general Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaafar yesterday said the deterioration in air quality was influenced by the movement of smoke and haze entering the west coast region of the country over the past 24 hours.
'No large-scale fires in the country have been detected,' he said.
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