KUCHING, Sept 14 — Air quality in Samarahan has improved significantly with Air Pollutant Index (API) dropping to a moderate reading of 98 at 8am today from an unhealthy 147 at 9pm yesterday.
According to the Natural Resources and Environment Board’s API Status for Sarawak, Kanowit and Lundu also joined Samarahan in moving out of the unhealthy zone and recording moderate API readings at 8am.
The API readings in Kanowit and Lundu fell to 97 and 94, respectively from 133 and 112 at 9pm yesterday.
Lubok Antu was the only location that continued to register very unhealthy air quality with a slight increase in API from 202 at 9pm to 205 at 8am.
Other areas that also had slightly higher API readings were Sri Aman from 166 at 9pm to 172 at 8am, Samalaju (71 to 73), Industrial Training Institute Miri (52 to 59), and Limbang (53 to 55).
Several other locations recorded slight drops in API but remained in the unhealthy category at 8am: Tebedu at 174 from 161 at 9pm, Serian (173 from 175), Betong (154 from 162), and Kuching (132 from 153).
Improved moderate air quality readings were recorded in Sibu where the API went from 92 at 9pm to 83 at 8am, Sarikei (86 to 75), Bintulu (78 to 75), Mukah (73 to 67), and Kapit (69 to 62).
The API in Miri and Lawas remained unchanged at 67 and 60 respectively at 8am.
The only location that continued to enjoy good air quality was Bario but its API climbed slightly to 40 at 8am from 38 at 9pm.
An API reading of 201 to 300 is classified as Very Unhealthy, while API readings from 101 to 200 are categorised as unhealthy, 51 to 100 as moderate, and from 0 to 50 as good. — The Borneo Post
