Beyond hazardous

The Cabinet today lifted the eight-year veil of secrecy on Air Pollutant Index readings as the haze worsened markedly.
Two areas reported API readings above 400, with Port Klang recording a reading of 424 and Kuala Selangor 418.
The air quality in three other areas in the Klang Valley — Shah Alam (349), Putrajaya (337) and Petaling Jaya (304) — breached the hazardous level of 300.
Several schools announced that classes were being cancelled due to worsening air quality.
The Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah airport in Subang was closed at 12.30pm after visibility fell to 200 metres.
The Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, which saw a visibility level of 500 metres at 1pm, may be closed if this falls to 300 metres.
Air quality was "very unhealthy" here (337) and in Petaling Jaya (304).
Eight areas recorded API readings of more than 100: Gombak (200), Tanjung Malim (205), Kuala Lumpur (276), Country Heights in Kajang (185), Nilai (174), Seremban (137), Jerantut (131) and Bukit Rambai, Malacca (107).
Thirty-one areas nationwide had readings of between 51 and 100, classified as "moderate".
API levels above 300 are considered "hazardous", between 101 and 200 as "unhealthy", and below 50 as "good".
An emergency will only be declared if and when the API breaches the 500 level.
The release of API readings, the first time since 1997 when the Government decided to keep them secret, will surely be welcomed by Malaysians who want to know how serious the haze is.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Adenan Satem said it was being done as "Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wanted transparency in the matter".
He told a Press conference after the Cabinet meeting that the decision was also based on the public wanting to know the API readings.
Describing the situation as having worsened since yesterday, he said API readings would be released to the media at 3pm daily.
The haze has progressively worsened since last week due to open burning at plantations in Sumatra and local fires in peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak.
On Monday, the Department of Environment banned all open burning in the Klang Valley.
On emergency measures, he said: "We’re discussing it. We have an action plan but I can’t release the contents yet. What we are already doing now is in line with the action plan."
Adenan said the National Security Division under the Prime Minister’s Department would co-ordinate procedures in an emergency.
"If the API reaches 500, we’ll let you know. As of now, we have not reached that level. Don’t make it look as if the whole country is in an emergency. The API is only bad in the Klang Valley and surrounding areas but the rest of the country is all right."
He said the Cabinet had also instructed him and Plantation Enterprises and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin to meet their Indonesian counterparts in Jakarta as soon as possible to discuss remedial measures and address how Malaysia might co-operate with Indonesia on the matter.
Asked how long haze could be expected to continue, Adenan said: "It will be like this for the next few days."
Health Minister Datuk Chua Soi Lek, who was also present, said the Cabinet had also discussed but not decided on cloud-seeding.
Cloud-seeding is not the most effective way of fighting the haze as there is no guarantee that rain will fall at desired locations.
Referring to a statement by the Meteorological Services Department that current wind directions were not expected to change until the inter-monsoon season in October, he said things could change.
"Meteorological readings are not 100 per cent certain. It’s not an exact science. That’s why people still call bomohs."
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