Hundreds of schools across the Malaysian state of Sarawak have closed their doors because of hazardous haze from ongoing wildfires in neighboring Indonesia.
Sarawak, which runs along the north of the island of Borneo, is currently under a pall of air pollution that is among the worst it has seen this decade. On September 3, Malaysian authorities declared an emergency in Serian Division, a region in the southwest of Sarawak bordering Indonesia, after air pollution levels hit critical levels.
King Sultan Ibrahim “has consented to the declaration of emergency throughout Serian Division, Sarawak, following haze conditions that have reached air pollution levels hazardous to public health and safety,” Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s office said in a statement on September 3.
“The government will continue to monitor developments from time to time and ensure that all necessary actions are implemented immediately, including mitigation measures and the dissemination of information and health advice to the public,” it added.
Under the emergency measures, government and private offices in the town of Serian will be closed, as well as plantations, construction sites, and quarries, the AFP news agency reported. The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee also announced a three-day cloud-seeding operation that was subsequently extended to today.
