Sunday, October 08, 2006

Hazy Kuching

The haze is back again, and this year it seems a bit more serious. for the pass few days the Air Pollutant Index in Kuching and other few cities in Sarawak has been registering unhealthy level. To make things worst, there is no rain so the haze just got worse. Well in case, some of you don't know what haze is, here is a brief defition of haze.

Haze is an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other pollutant particles obscure the normal clarity of the sky. It occurs when dust and smoke particles accumulate in relatively dry air. When weather conditions block the dispersal of smoke and other pollutants they concentrate and form a usually low-hanging shroud that impairs visibility and may become a respiratory health threat. Dense haze caused by industrial pollution is also known as smog.

This is situation is common in South East Asia. Every year is the same story. Thi is thanks to our neighbour Indonesia. Around this time of the year farmers of Indonesia will start clearing forest lands for their new plantation. usually this leads to forest fires which are uncontrollable. With the dry season plus the burning haze is created and thanks to them, we suffer too... thoseIDIOTS!!

Visibilty in Kuching was quite poor


This photo is taken from the 8th floor in Swinburne Uni, The haze is so bad that we can't see the City Skyline anymore


Hopefully the haze situation will get better, as for today and yesterday the API has drop down significantly but it is still in the moderate level. Cloud Seeding operation has been carried out that is probably why yesterday it did rain for a while. But hopefully the real rain will come back!

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