Kuala Selangor Faces Haze Threat Again
Kuala Selangor Faces Haze Threat Again
11 September 2005
published by www.bernama.com.my
KUALA LUMPUR — Kuala Selangor which was declared a haze emergency area last month is again threatened with the problem, the air quality there is reported to have returned to an unhealthy level.
According to a Department of the Environment (DOE) statement Sunday, the district, which faces the Melaka Straits, recorded an Air Pollutants Index (API) reading of 104.
Last Aug 11, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi declared a state of emergency for the whole of Kuala Selangor and Port Klang districts when the API in the two places exceeded 500, categorised as hazardous to health.
However, the emergency status was withdrawn two days later when API readings in the two places reverted to normal.
The statement also said that as of 11 am today, 34 of 51 air monitoring stations in the country recorded moderate air quality with API readings between 51 to 100, and that 78 hotspots were detected in north Sumatra and 391 in Kalimantan.
Eight hotspots were also detected in the peninsula, three in Sarawak and one in Sabah, the statement said, adding that visibility in most places in the country was at between 9 and 10 kilometres except for Prai, Bayan Lepas, Butterworth, Sitiawan, Batu Embun, Muadzam Shah and Melaka where it was between six to eight kilometres.
