Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], September 2: Smoke from forest and peatland fires burning across Indonesia has pushed air quality in parts of Malaysian Borneo to hazardous levels, triggering a surge in respiratory illness and forcing the cancellation of outdoor Independence Day celebrations.
The smoke - drifting from fires in Kalimantan in the Indonesian portion of Borneo - has settled over the Malaysian state of Sarawak, located on the same island, for much of August. It has also reached peninsular Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.
It is the region's worst haze episode since 2015, when fires in Indonesia exposed tens of millions of people to toxic smoke and caused more than 500,000 people to suffer respiratory ailments. On Tuesday, six areas in Sarawak recorded hazardous air quality, with readings above 300 on Malaysia's Air Pollutant Index. Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy. In Kuching, the state capital, the index hit 407, while in Serian, a town close to the Kalimantan border, it hit 408.
Mia Emylia Hassan, 33, a mother of two in Kuching, said the smell of smoke was inescapable. "The air here is very thick," she said. "It smells like smoke, and it's just white all over." Visibility from her house, she said, had dropped to about a kilometre, or roughly half a mile. "We have not seen blue sky for over a month," she said.
Source: Qatar Tribune