Haze situation only until November, Meteorological Department assures

The haze situation in the country will only remain until November this year and will not prolong until 2016, said Malaysian Meteorological Department (MET) director-general Datuk Che Gayah Ismail.

She said the haze situation is expected to continue until Oct 25 because of the wind direction, which is from the south west.

She said from Oct 26, there will be changes as there will not be tropical typhoons anymore.

“So, wind will blow from various directions and haze will reduce. But there will still be a little haze,” she said when contacted.

“From November, we will go through north east monsoon. Wind from South China Sea will not bring haze from Indonesia,” she said.

“This means, even if there is still haze in Indonesia, we will not be experiencing it,” she added.

Yesterday, Reuters said the Indonesian forest fires that have caused choking smoke to drift across Southeast Asia are spreading to new areas and are unlikely to be put out until next year. A scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research, Herry Purnomo said the haze situation will last until December or January. "It is because people are opening new agriculture areas, like palm oil," he said. A senior official at a company active in Indonesia's forested areas said the haze could continue until March. Indonesia usually enters its wet season in October and November, but this year the country is expected to face moderate El Nino dry conditions which could strengthen until December and may hinder efforts to control the fires. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim today said Malaysia twill be sending a second mission to help put out forest fires in southern Sumatra, Indonesia which have continued to spread despite efforts to extinguish the flames. He said the decision to dispatch the second team was prompted by the situation which has reached an alarming level. On Oct 9, the crew left with a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) plane as well as two MMEA aircraft to fight forest fires in the effort to arrest the worsening haze emanating from southern Sumatra. The mission involved a Bombardier CL415 MP and a AS365 N3 Dauphin helicopter belonging to MMEA as well as an RMAF Hercules C130 plane.