The second day of cloud seeding to reduce the effect of haze in several areas in the state of Sarawak could not be carried out due to the severe haze since yesterday morning.

For the record, a cloud seeding operation was successfully conducted on Wednesday.

Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu Numpang said the operation by the Department of Environment, in cooperation with the Malaysian Meteorogical Department and aided by the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Kuching Water Board and Public Works Department, also could not be carried out for safety reasons.

“The cloud seeding operation could not be carried out today as it was unsafe for flying due to poor visibility. In addition, suitable clouds for the cloud seeding operation was not available today (yesterday),” he told a media conference yesterday.

Earlier, Jabu, who is also state Disaster management Committee chairperson, held a one-hour meeting with the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board controller Peter Sawal and representatives of the state National Security Council at Wisma Bapa Malaysia.

Commenting on the closure of 463 primary and secondary schools in seven districts yesterday, Jabu said it was a normal process if the haze reached a very unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) level.

“The directive to close schools was issued to ensure the students’ health are not affected, we don’t want to place their health at risk. We will continue to monitor the API and will decide whether school will continue to close tomorrow (today),” he said.

Meanwhile, Jabu said no open burning was detected in Sarawak, on the other hand he stressed that the haze engulfing the state originated from Kalimantan, Indonesia.

“The API is seen dropping below 200 this evening. We are monitoring the situation because the wind from Kalimantan is taking the haze straight to us in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian.

“We also expect the wind pattern will not alter drastically, so we will continue to monitor the API as there are still many hotspots in Kalimantan,” he said.

- Bernama