Serian folk feeling the ill effects of haze

KUCHING: Residents of Serian town, about 60km from here, are feeling the effects of the current hazy conditions.

Barber Philip Luas said it was difficult to breathe and his eyes were stinging from the haze.

"It has not rained for about a week and now we are facing the haze as well.

"The situation is really not conducive," he said when met on Tuesday (Sept 5).

Philip added that it was important to drink plenty of water and wear a mask outdoors.

Food delivery rider Maxwell Jack also said the haze was affecting him physically.

"I'm out delivering food from morning to night. The haze is irritating my eyes and (affecting my) breathing," he said.

Serian has recorded unhealthy air quality since Monday (Sept 4) when the air pollutant index (API) rose above the 100 mark at 1am.

It peaked at 152 at 9pm on Monday and remained at the same level at 1pm on Tuesday (Sept 5).

An API reading of 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 moderate and 101-200 unhealthy.

Besides Serian, Kuching also recorded an unhealthy API reading of 152 at 1pm on Tuesday.

However, the API in Sri Aman dropped to 98 after recording unhealthy levels over the past few days.

Other parts of Sarawak recorded moderate readings ranging from 58 in Limbang to 99 in Samarahan.

The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) said overnight satellite imagery detected moderate smoke haze from scattered hotspots in western and southern Kalimantan.

"Escalated hotspot activity and hazy conditions are expected to persist over the fire-prone areas in western and southern Kalimantan, as well as southern Sumatra.

"There continues to be a slight risk of transboundary haze occurrence over the bordering areas of west Kalimantan and western Sarawak.

"Prevailing winds are forecast to blow mainly from the south-east or south," ASMC said in its weather and haze outlook on Tuesday.

For the next few days, ASMC said, the weather was forecast to remain generally dry over many parts of the southern Asean region.

It added that brief showers were forecast for some parts of Kalimantan.