Haze: Schools in 4 divisions closed

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A school security guard placing a notice at the entrance of SK Merpati Jepang in Kuching. — Bernama photo

A school security guard placing a notice at the entrance of SK Merpati Jepang in Kuching. — Bernama photo

KUCHING: All 588 schools across Kuching, Samarahan, Sri Aman and Betong divisions are closed today as the Air Pollutant Index (API) has soared to unhealthy level, thus affecting 215,369 school children.

The Education Ministry has also directed the closure of all schools in Selangor, Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and Negeri Sembilan.

A statement from the state Education Department said the closure of schools here, in Samarahan, Sri Aman and Betong affected 122,303 primary school pupils and 93,066 secondary students.

In Putrajaya, Bernama reported that Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said starting today, school managements and district education offices (PPDs) had the authority to decide on school closure if visibility dropped to less than 500m.

Previously, schools in areas affected by the haze would only be closed if the API reading reached 200, which is very unhealthy.

“I have discussed with the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry yesterday (Saturday) and decided that besides the API, visibility could also be taken into account in determining the closure of schools.

“This means, even if the API is still between 100 and 120, but the visibility in the area is below 500m, we allow the PPD and headmaster to close the affected school,” he said.

Mahdzir added that the ministry had also decided that announcement on whether schools would be closed or run as usual the next day would be made at 2pm every day.

The deteriorating haze situation yesterday forced 1,443 passengers to be stranded as many flights were either cancelled, delayed or diverted.

A passenger, surnamed Wong, complained about the delay of her flight from Sibu to here yesterday due to poor visibility. She, therefore, requested MASwings to use Boeing aircraft instead of ATRs to ferry affected travellers from Sibu to the state capital, in particular.

Effective Sept 1 this year, Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) has replaced Boeing with two smaller ATR planes for the Kuching-Sibu and Kuching-Bintulu sectors. Only AirAsia still services the Kuching-Sibu sector with larger aircraft.

Wong said her flight was supposed to depart Sibu at 5.05pm, but due to the cancellation, she could only fly here at 9pm today as all other flights were fully booked yesterday.

Over at Kuching International Airport (KIA), its senior manager Mohd Nadzim Hashim said as at 5pm yesterday, eight flights involving Kuching-Pontianak-Kuching, Kuching-Miri, Kuching-Bintulu, and Kuching-Sibu sectors were cancelled. This affected 235 passengers. Nine flights involving the Kuching-Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur-Kuching, and Kuching-Sibu sectors were delayed.

Another Kuala Lumpur-Kuching flight MH2542 ferrying 65 passengers had to be diverted to Sibu due to poor visibility of between 900m to 1,500m, said Mohd Nazim.

“All new passengers using KIA are advised to review their respective flight schedules with their airlines before going to the airport,” he said.

In Miri, the northern part of the state registered moderate API readings of between 53 and 66 as at yesterday evening, with Limbang recording the lowest API reading in the state.

Bintulu also recorded moderate API. At 6am yesterday, the reading was 66, but it went up to 70 at 4pm.

As for other divisions, Sri Aman has the highest API reading with 180 as at 4pm yesterday. Others are Samarahan (145), Kuching (128), Sarikei (89), Sibu (76) and Kapit (55).

API readings of 0-50 is categorised as good, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 (very unhealthy) and 301 and above (hazardous).

Meanwhile, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar hoped that the weathermen was right with their latest forecast that the expected monsoon wind from the Easterly direction, scheduled to start early October, would help in reducing discomfort of the people.

“The haze has not stopped. It is just (due to) the uncertain wind that blows it (haze) and (it depends very much on) where the wind goes. The fire is still razing in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesia),” he said via WhatsApp yesterday.

He added that previously, the Westerly wind blew the haze to southern Sarawak and then to Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Tanjung Malim in Perak, Melaka and eastern Johor.

“Now the wind – during the changing pattern before monsoon rain comes – keeps on changing directions and is blowing the heavy haze to almost all parts of Malaysia,” Wan Junaidi said.

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