Haze hits ‘hazardous’ levels in Port Klang

March 18, 2014 Leave a comment

Haze hits ‘hazardous’ levels in Port Klang

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KUALA LUMPUR — The haze has breached hazardous levels in Malaysia with Port Klang and Banting at 6am this morning (March 14), with Air Pollutant Index (API) readings rising to 350 and 318, respectively.

16 MIN 58 SEC AGO

KUALA LUMPUR — The haze has breached hazardous levels in Malaysia with Port Klang and Banting at 6am this morning (March 14), with Air Pollutant Index (API) readings rising to 350 and 318, respectively.

An API reading of 301 and above is considered “hazardous”.

Given the worsening situation which started yesterday, 131 schools in the Klang district were ordered to close today by the Selangor Education Department after the API reading in Port Klang hit 233 at 5pm yesterday.

A reading of between 0 and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 is “moderate”, 101 and 200 is “unhealthy” and 201 and 300 is “very unhealthy”.

A total of 13 spots across the country also recorded unhealthy API readings early today. They are Petaling Jaya (186), Putrajaya (177), Batu Muda in Kuala Lumpur (176), Nilai (168), Port Dickson (167), Shah Alam (166), Kuala Selangor and Seremban (154), Cheras (147), Bukit Rambai (132), Malacca and Muar (114) and Tanjung Malim (110).

The Star reported today that satellite imagery showed there were about 82 hot spots in the peninsula and that most of the fires were happening in Pahang and Johor, according to the Meteorological Department.

However, the situation is expected to improve in the coming days due to the inter-monsoon season expected in mid-March.

Director-general of the Meteorological Department Che Gayah Ismail had said yesterday that states in the west coast of the peninsula would experience showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon during this time.

“We expect to see this wet season to last the whole of April and a little in May,” she had said.

She warned, however, that the haze could be back after that in June when the southwest monsoon begins.

The API is calculated based on five major air pollutants, namely sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ground level ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter with a diameter below 10 micrometres (PM10).

The highest API value ever recorded was 839 in Kuching on Sept 23, 1997 during the 1997. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

 

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