Sarawak wants emergency declared in Serian
Deputy premier says only Putrajaya can declare an emergency as the order must be signed off by the king.
The Sarawak government is seeking an emergency declaration in Serian due to the severe haze causing an air pollutant index (API) of 519, according to Deputy Premier Douglas Uggah Embas. Premier Abang Johari Openg is currently discussing the situation with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Uggah emphasized that only the federal government, specifically the king, can declare an emergency as the order requires royal approval.
The deputy premier expressed hope that the public would adhere to the emergency measures, stating that the primary objective is to safeguard residents' health. It has been previously announced that a haze emergency would be established at the district level if an area's API crossed the 500 mark. Should the disaster emergency be declared, all government and private sector establishments will close, with exceptions for essential services.
This measure was implemented in Kuching back in September 1997 when an API reading of 650 was recorded.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- Malaysia declares state of emergency in Sarawak’s Serian after air pollutant index exceeds 500 channelnewsasia.com
