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THE AIR WE BREATH: Hazy and unhealthy |
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Written by Azura Abas and Nurjehan Mohamed
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Saturday, 26 February 2005 |
The smoky haze worsened in the Klang Valley today, and the air quality in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas hit unhealthy levels for the first time in years.
How long this thick blanket of smoke continues to dominate the skyline will depend on several factors: the hot weather, the 2,000 firemen fighting forest fires in six States and the number of Malaysians who continue to thumb their nose at the law and indulge in open burning.
Visibility was down to two kilometres at Subang and 2.5km at the Kuala
Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. The normal visibility rate in
the country is 10km.
The Air Pollution Index (API) reading at nine monitoring stations in
Port Klang, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Kuala Lumpur,
Gombak, Kajang, Putrajaya and Nilai was considered unhealthy.
The air quallity is considered moderate when the API readings are
between 51 and 100 while any reading of more than 100 is considered
unhealthy. Breaching the 100 mark was the norm in 1997 when the region
was enveloped in haze from forest fires in Sumatra.
The fires in parts of peninsular Malaysia broke out after a long period of hot and dry weather.
Some 2,000 hectares of forest have been ablaze in Selangor since Feb 14
and it could take another two weeks to bring the fires under control.
Firemen were also fighting fires in Perak, Kedah, Kelantan and Johor.
The Department of Environment said it had stepped up enforcement
against open burning. To date, 378 cases of open burning had been
detected.
Some 55 people have been given compound fines, another 28 were given
show-cause notices and three others are facing court action.
Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk S. Sothinathan
said the public could do their part to help improve the air quality by
reducing their driving hours and refraining from open burning.
"This is an internal problem that we believe can be controlled as the
firemen are working around the clock putting out bush fires.
"Motorists should try to avoid driving for too long to help reduce
smoke emission. They can consider taking the public transport, too." .
Sothinathan also advised those with respiratory problems to take extra precautions until the weather improved.
Meanwhile, a Meteorological Service Department spokesman doused
speculation that the temperature would hit record levels on March 21.
"The speculation that the temperature will rise to 40 degree Celsius on
March 21 is quite remote because of possible cloud formation, as the
dry spell is expected to be over by the end of next month."
He said it was normal for Malaysia to experience sweltering heat between January and March.
The heatwave is causing Malaysians to use up more electricity.
Tenaga Nasional Berhad recorded an all-time high energy consumption at 12,238 megawatts (MW) on Wednesday.
This exceeded the previous record of 12,023MW, recorded in May last
year. The daily consumption is between 10,000MW and 11,000MW.
TNB corporate communications senior manager (media relations) Syed
Hidzam Osman said it was demand in households that was causing the
spike in consumption with more residents turning on their fans and
air-conditioners.
source: New Straits Times 25-02-2005
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