Serian air quality hits ‘Very Unhealthy’ level as haze worsens across parts of Sarawak
by Jude Toyat · Borneo Post OnlineKUCHING (Sept 23): Air quality in Serian deteriorated into the ‘Very Unhealthy’ category this evening as haze conditions worsened in parts of Sarawak, while Kanowit remained above the 200 mark throughout the day.
According to the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), the Air Pollutant Index (API) recorded at Serian rose to 201 at 6pm, up from 186 at noon, and 179 at 8am.
Kanowit remained in the ‘Very Unhealthy’ category, recording 244 at 8am, 208 at noon, and 211 at 6pm.
Lubok Antu, meanwhile, showed improvement with its API falling from 205 at 8am to 195 at noon and 191 at 6pm, taking it out of the ‘Very Unhealthy’ category.
At 6pm, most monitoring stations continued to record ‘Unhealthy’ air quality.
Kuching registered 185, Samarahan 182, Sri Aman 176, Sarikei 164, and Sibu 166.
Other readings included Mukah at 160, Kapit 121, Bintulu 174, Samalaju 164, Miri 161, ILP Miri 154, Limbang 153, Lundu 163, Tebedu 176, Belaga 177, Lawas 138, and Betong 176.
Bario was the only station to remain below the ‘Unhealthy’ category, although its reading increased from 33 (Good) at 8am to 74 (Moderate) at noon and 76 (Moderate) at 6pm.
Several areas recorded worsening air quality between noon and 6pm.
Kuching rose from 179 to 185, Samarahan from 173 to 182, Lundu from 128 to 163 and Lawas from 129 to 138.
Under the API classification, readings of 0-50 are Good, 51-100 (Moderate), 101-200 (Unhealthy), and 201-300 (Very Unhealthy).