591 sekolah di Sarawak ditutup, IPU Serian ‘sangat tidak sihat’

On August 1st, 591 schools in Sarawak were ordered to close due to worsening smog, with air quality in Serian reaching "very unhealthy" levels. The Air Pollution Index (IPU) reading in Serian hit 241 at 8:30 AM, prompting the Environment Department to warn of potential harm to public health. Eight other regions in Sarawak also recorded unhealthy IPU readings: Sri Aman (189), Kuching (186), Samarahan (179), Sarikei (173), Sibu (156), Bintulu (154), Samalaju (145), and Kapit (129).

According to the Air Pollution Index scale, readings from 0 to 50 are considered good, 51 to 100 are moderate, 101 to 200 are unhealthy, 201 to 300 are very unhealthy, 301 to 400 are hazardous, 401 to 500 are extremely hazardous, and above 501 is an emergency.

The Sarawak Education Department announced today that 591 schools under the jurisdiction of 10 district education offices (PPD) in Sarawak were closed indefinitely, starting yesterday. This affected 509 primary schools with a total of 107,590 students and 82 secondary schools with 89,733 students under the purview of PPD Kuching, Padawan, Bau, Lundu, Samarahan, Simunjan, Serian, Sri Aman, Lubok Antu, and Betong.

The Sarawak Bumiputera and Environment Organization reported on August 1st to 2nd, finding 148 heat points in Sarawak and 7,286 heat points in Kalimantan, Indonesia. In essence, smoke from small to thick particles was observed in West Kalimantan and moving northwards, entering the western part of Sarawak. Furthermore, the heat points and smog conditions may continue to worsen in easily combable and long-drought areas, posing a risk of smoke pollution spread.