Haze situation in Balai Ringin near Serian on Sunday. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (Aug 30): Air quality in Serian further worsened as the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading rose to 425 by 2pm, from 399 at noon — hazardous level on Sunday.
According to the Natural Resources and Environment Board’s Daily Haze Watch, Samarahan, Kuching and Tebedu continued to record hazardous air quality with API readings at 336, 313 and 310, respectively, at 2pm.
These marked further increases compared to the noon readings of 332, 304 and 302.
Locations with very unhealthy air quality were Lubok Antu, with its API soaring to 276 by 2pm from 243 at noon, Sri Aman (228 to 241) and Lundu, which recorded a slight drop from 236 to 233.
Limbang’s air quality deteriorated from a moderate reading of 97 at noon to an unhealthy level of 107 by 2pm.
Other areas that also recorded unhealthy air quality with slight increases in API readings were Sarikei (197 to 199), Sibu (190 to 191), Bintulu (183 to 184), Mukah (176 to 181), Miri (159 to 160), Industrial Training Institute Miri (156 to 158) and Lawas (114 to 120).
However, Bario’s API registered a slight drop from 121 at noon to 119 by 2pm.
The API readings in Samalaju and Kapit remained unchanged at 175 and 161, respectively.
An API reading of 301 and above is classified as hazardous, while readings from 201 to 300 are considered very unhealthy and from 101 to 200 unhealthy.