Malaysia may try inducing rain as hazy skies return

AP, 19 July 2006:

Malaysia may try inducing rain as hazy skies return

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Air quality has reached unhealthy levels in parts

of Malaysia and could worsen in coming months due to dry weather land- clearing fires in nearby Indonesia, an official and media said

Wednesday.

Malaysia is considering cloud-seeding to try inducing rain, news

reports said.

The Air Pollution Index or API breached the 100-point mark to hit

the "unhealthy" level late Tuesday in areas of the northern states of

Perak and Penang, and in part of central Selangor state, the

Meteorological Department's Web site said.

The haze often occurs during the region's midyear dry season, when

farmers - some in Malaysia but most in Indonesia's Sumatra island -

set illegal brush fires to clear land for planting.Last year, air

pollution reached such critical levels that a state of emergency was

declared in Malaysia.

Singapore and Thailand have also expressed concern about the burning.

Officials said satellite images showed 150 "hot spots," indicating

large peat fires, on Sumatra and more than 130 in Kalimantan Island.

Sumatra lies across the narrow Malacca Strait from Peninsula

Malaysia, while Kalimantan adjoins two Malaysian states.

Visibility in a number of districts in the northern states of Penang

and Perak, hovered at about two kilometers, said Malaysia's principal

assistant director for forecast, Wong Teck Kiong.

Information on Wednesday's API levels was not immediately available.

The forecasting department's Director General Yap Kok Seng was quoted

as saying by both the New Straits Times and The Star newspapers that

dry conditions could worsen the situation in the next few months.

"We are also prepared to carry out cloud seeding" if air quality

levels stay unhealthy for three days or more, Yap was quoted as

saying.p

Penang state Meteorological Services Department Director S. Santhira

Segaran said in the reports that a short rainy spell expected this

week will not alleviate the haze unless the number of fires in

Indonesia is brought under control.

Yap and Santhira could not be immediately reached for comment.

Neighboring countries have repeatedly complained to Indonesia about

the fires over the past decade, and offered various forms of help.

Economically struggling Indonesia says it lacksresources to fight the

fires and enforce anti-burning laws.