Haze News 5 Oct 2007!

Hotspots put Sarawak on haze alert

The Star, 5 Oct 2007
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/10/5/nation/19085103&sec=nation

MIRI: Sarawak has been placed on haze alert with 130 major fires having been detected in Kalimantan.
Shifting cultivators in rural Sarawak have also started burning their farmlands and hillslopes to prepare for the planting season.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam, who is state Disaster Relief Committee chairman, said the fires in Kalimantan were large enough to be detected by satellites.
“There are about 130 hotspots already in Kalimantan. In Sarawak, we have detected about 71 cases of burning in the central region.
“These local fires are not big. They are scattered fires here and there caused by open burning carried out by interior farmers and shifting cultivators,” he said.
He was commenting on the presence of a persistently hazy-looking skyline over various parts of the state over the past week.
Dr Chan said there was no immediate need to impose a ban on open burning.
In Petaling Jaya, the Meteorological Department said the haze was back but not at a worrying stage.
“There is a slight haze but it is not that bad as visibility at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport and the KL International Airport (KLIA) is still more than 10km.
“The haze could be because of the dry weather and other factors, as it has been quite dry in the last few days,” said an officer.
“We are still having the South-West Monsoon and approaching the inter-monsoon season anytime now,” he said.

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