Haze from forest fires in Indonesia reaches Malaysia, after it affected Singapore
It first affected the city-state of Singapore, now the haze coming from forest fires in Indonesia reaches Kuala Lumpur and other states in Malaysia.
When the smog engulfed the parts of Singapore, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency of Indonesia warned that current wind conditions blowing eastwards will mean the smoke from forest fires in Sumatra’s central province of Riau will blanket Malaysia.
And here it is.
As shown in the photos, the west coast of the Malaysian peninsula is blanketed in a haze today.
The northeasterly winds bring the thick smoke from Sumatra in neighbouring Indonesia, thus clogging the air with pollutants and making visibility poor.
Readings of Air Pollutant Index from the Department of Environment of Malaysia showed that the air pollutant index (API) is rising steadily throughout the day.
It showed that the central and southern regions were the mostly affected, where it reached the unhealthy level of pollutants in the air.
As of 5:00PM, Monday, the air in the town of Tanjung Malim in Perak, Malaysia has crossed into the unhealthy zone. API reading is at 119, very high if compared to 47 at noon time.
Aside from the said areas, API readings in the 90s also reached unhealthy level in several districts within the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
The popular 88-storey Petronas Towers, the tallest twin buildings in the world, were barely visible on Monday.
The air quality in Cheras now stands at 97 while the Batu Muda district is at 96; Putrajaya levels are at 93. They all record ozone particles in the air.
As the country’s most industrialised state, the air quality in Selangor, is also inching towards unhealthy level. It is recorded at the highest API readings in the state capital of Shah Alam at 93 and Petaling Jaya at 91. Like the other areas, ozone particles were also seen by the agency.
The air quality in Malacca and Johor, on the other hand, are between the range of 60 and the high side of 80, but have yet to cross the 90-level mark on the API.
Elsewhere in the peninsula, records show the air quality to still be healthy.
