PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is likely to escape the El Nino and La Nina phenomenon this year, based on findings reported by Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
According to a Bernama report, the country is expected to receive normal rainfall for September and October this year while occurrences of exceptionally high temperature, drought and haze are also not expected.
“MetMalaysia’s forecast since last year until now is very accurate. I am confident, with this forecast, our country will not experience severe effects of the El Nino and La Nina phenomenon this year,” the minister said at a news conference after chairing the National Haze and Dry Weather Committee meeting here yesterday.
Amongst others, the committee had agreed to activate the Fire Prevention and Peat Soil Management Operations programme’s operational procedures to strictly monitor peat soils with frequent combustion.
Wan Junaidi also said the Mineral and Geoscience Department would thoroughly study the construction of check dams and tube wells to address the haze problem through peat soil management.
Tube wells are a ground water system used to pump water into peat soil and are activated when peat fires occur or water levels drop in peat soil layers.
As of the end of last year, 236 check dams and 67 tube wells were built in Johor, Kelantan, Pahang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor and Terengganu, he said.
