PM announces haze emergency in Johor

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 - 19:06

PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak declared a state of emergency yesterday due to haze for the 

districts of Muar and Ledang in Johor.

The declaration was made following the deteriorating haze situation, particularly in the two districts, 

exceeding 500 on the Air Pollutants Index (API) which was an emergency level, he said in a statement.

"This haze emergency declaration does not involve an imposition of a curfew and also, there is no 

change in the method of administration either at the state or federal level for now," he said.

Based on the API, a reading of between 0-50 is categorised as good, 51 to 100 (moderate), 

101-200 (unhealthy), 201 to 300 (very unhealthy), and 300 and above as hazardous.

The Department of Environment (DoE) reported that the API reading in Muar as at 7am yesterday 

was at 746. However, at 11am, the API reading in Muar reduced to 690 but was still at the hazardous level.

Najib said guidelines to manage a haze disaster were already in place and that all the relevant agencies

 must discharge their duties accordingly.