By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Aug 17: Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment Assistant Minister Datu Len Talif Salleh says if water bombing is effective in Kuala Baram, the same method may be applied to Sri Aman and Betong.
“Presently, water bombing has been carried out at Kuala Baram. We will request for the same thing to be done for Sri Aman if it is effective in Kuala Baram,” Len told DayakDaily.
Len supported the request of Sarawak disaster management committee (JPBN) secretariat Major Ismail Mahedin who had appealed to Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM) through National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) to conduct water bombing in the two divisions of Sri Aman and Betong.
Ismail had said the forest fires occurring in Kampung Tuie, Betong and Sri Aman areas were still extensive and had been aggravated by the hot weather and lack of water from the existing reservoir.
After enjoying a moderately healthy air quality yesterday, haze came back in the wee hours of this morning to three areas of Industrial Training Institute (ILP) Miri, Kuala Baram and Sri Aman.
Sri Aman is now experiencing worse air quality than ILP Miri and Kuala Baram. The API reading for Sri Aman as of 1pm was 244 while censor in IPL Miri showed a reading of 220 at the same time.
Kuala Baram on the other hand still registered a moderately unhealthy API of 119.
As of 1pm, the API readings of various parts of Sarawak were as follows:
| Towns and cities | API |
| Limbang | 25 |
| ILP Miri | 220 |
| Miri | 73 |
| Samalaju | 62 |
| Bintulu | 59 |
| Mukah | 53 |
| Kapit | 59 |
| Sibu | 62 |
| Sarikei | 56 |
| Sri Aman | 244 |
| Samarahan | 67 |
| Kuching | 66 |
| Kuala Baram | 119 |
API of 0-50 indicates good air quality; 51- 100 is considered moderate; 101-200, unhealthy; 201-300, very unhealthy and above 300, hazardous. — DayakDaily
