Malaysia shuts schools as haze from Indonesian fires chokes Southeast Asia

Kuala Lumpur’s Air Pollutant Index says air quality at unhealthy levels amid smog from forest fires.

Kuala Lumpur's skyline shrouded in haze from regional wildfires on Friday [Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters]

Malaysia has closed schools in its capital and several states as smoke from Indonesian forest fires pushes air pollution to unhealthy levels.

Schools were ordered to close on Friday across Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital Putrajaya and in the states of Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Selangor.

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The move, which affected roughly two million students, came as Kuala Lumpur recorded an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of about 170. The API is a government-run measure of air quality.

Singapore, at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, saw its air quality fall into the “very unhealthy” range, according to IQAir.

“The haze issue is indeed at a worrying level,” said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. He added that he had spoken to Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, who had agreed to take “the necessary steps”. However, he offered no details on what that might entail.

Anwar said he had asked Malaysia’s minister of foreign affairs to push for an urgent meeting of ASEAN environment ministers. Kuala Lumpur is stepping up cloud seeding to trigger rain, he added.

“Appropriate measures must be taken by the relevant ministries and agencies to protect schoolchildren and students, including senior citizens and patients with respiratory illnesses,” King Sultan Ibrahim said. He declared that schools should close when API readings hit 150 or higher.

Under Malaysian guidelines, API readings above 100 are classified as unhealthy, above 200 as very unhealthy, above 300 as hazardous, while readings beyond 500 constitute the threshold for declaring a local emergency.

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek promised parents more advance notice of closures in future.

In August, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for political and security affairs said that El Nino conditions were threatening more fires during the dry season.

A month later, smoke started to blanket the region as the country experienced its worst fire season in over a decade.

Fires have burned across six provinces, with at least 200,000 hectares scorched, Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington reported.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Health has recorded more than 170,000 respiratory infections, but the actual figure is likely higher as it only covers those who sought out healthcare, she noted.

The haze has also worried organisers of Singapore’s Formula One weekend, which is set to start on Friday and end on Sunday.

Organisers have insisted that they will race regardless and will have masks and extra medics, adding that it is “not a threat”.

吉隆坡空气污染指数显示，受森林火灾烟雾影响，空气质量处于不健康水平。

周五，吉隆坡的天际线被区域山火产生的烟雾笼罩。[Hasnoor Hussain/路透社]

由于印尼森林大火产生的烟雾导致空气污染达到不健康水平，马来西亚首都及周边几个州的学校已经关闭。

周五，吉隆坡、行政首都布城以及柔佛州、马六甲州、森美兰州、彭亨州和雪兰莪州的学校被勒令停课。

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列表 2/3 厄尔尼诺现象：气候变化加剧的自然现象

科学家称，强厄尔尼诺现象可能导致超过45万人死亡（共3条，此为第3条）。

此举影响了大约 200 万名学生，与此同时，吉隆坡的空气污染指数 (API) 读数约为 170。API 是政府运行的空气质量衡量指标。

根据 IQAir 的数据，位于马来半岛南端的新加坡的空气质量已降至“非常不健康”的水平。

马来西亚总理安瓦尔·易卜拉欣表示：“雾霾问题确实令人担忧。” 他补充说，他已与印尼总统普拉博沃·苏比安托通话，普拉博沃同意采取“必要措施”。但他并未透露这些措施的具体内容。

安华表示，他已要求马来西亚外交部长敦促召开东盟环境部长紧急会议。他还补充说，吉隆坡正在加大人工增雨力度。

“相关部委和机构必须采取适当措施，保护中小学生、老年人和呼吸系统疾病患者，”苏丹易卜拉欣国王表示。他宣布，当空气污染指数（API）读数达到或超过150时，学校应关闭。

根据马来西亚的指导方针，API读数超过100被归类为不健康，超过200被归类为非常不健康，超过300被归类为危险，而读数超过500则构成宣布当地紧急情况的阈值。

教育部长法德琳娜·西德克向家长承诺，未来会提前更长时间通知学校停课事宜。

8 月，印尼政治和安全事务统筹部长表示，厄尔尼诺现象可能导致旱季发生更多火灾。

一个月后，烟雾开始笼罩该地区，该国遭遇了十多年来最严重的火灾季。

据半岛电视台记者杰西卡·华盛顿报道，火灾已蔓延至六个省份，至少20万公顷土地被烧毁。

她指出，印尼卫生部记录的呼吸道感染病例超过17万例，但实际数字可能更高，因为它只包括那些寻求医疗保健的人。

雾霾也让新加坡一级方程式赛车周末的组织者感到担忧，该赛事定于周五开始，周日结束。

组织者坚称无论如何他们都会举行比赛，并且会提供口罩和额外的医护人员，并补充说这“不会构成威胁”。