SERIAN, Aug 21 — Air quality here is still at a very unhealthy level with the monitoring station at the Serian District Police Headquarters registering an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 241 as of 8am on Friday.
The Department of Environment’s Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS) website also showed eight monitoring stations in Sarawak registering unhealthy readings.
Topping the list was Sri Aman with 189, followed by Kuching (186), Samarahan (179), Sarikei (173), Sibu (156), Bintulu (154), Samalaju (145), and Kapit (129).
The DoE’s four other monitoring stations in Sarawak recorded moderate API readings – with 96 registered in Mukah, 77 in both Miri and ILP Miri, and 63 in Limbang.
The worsening API in Serian is largely due to transboundary haze from West Kalimantan in Indonesia.
The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) in an update at 5.32pm on Thursday said dry conditions prevailed over most parts of the southern Asean region except over the northern parts of Borneo where some showers were observed.
Scattered to widespread hotspots were detected in Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Sumatra, while few to isolated hotspots were detected elsewhere in the southern Asean region.
As of Thursday, there were 298 hotspots detected in Kalimantan – based on the daily hotspot count from Aug 14-20.
The highest number of hotspots in Kalimantan were recorded on Aug 18 when 1,079 hotspots were detected.
The centre said moderate to dense transboundary smoke plumes were observed emanating from hotspot clusters in West Kalimantan, drifting northwards into the western and central parts of Sarawak.
“Moderate to dense smoke plumes were also observed to emanate from hotspot clusters detected in many parts of Kalimantan and the southern parts of Sumatra.
“Several air quality stations in West and South Kalimantan, as well as the western and central parts of Sarawak recorded unhealthy levels,” said ASMC.
However, it pointed out that the full extent of the hotspot and smoke haze situation in the region could not be determined due to cloud cover.
On the weather and haze outlook, ASMC said dry conditions are expected over most parts of the southern Asean region in the coming days, except over the northern parts of Borneo and the northern and western parts of Sumatra where showers are forecast.
As such, it said the hotspot and smoke haze situation could continue to escalate in areas experiencing prolonged periods of dry weather, with a continued risk of transboundary haze occurrence.
“The prevailing winds over the southern Asean region are forecast to blow from the southeast to southwest.
“On the other hand, wet weather is expected to persist over the northern Asean region, which helps to keep the hotspot and smoke haze situation subdued,” it added. — The Borneo Post
