API reading in Palangkaraya over 2,000

The residents in Palangkaraya, capital city of Central Kalimantan now may not be able to breathe easily as the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading in the province has exceeded 2,000.

According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, the API reading in the area increased significantly from a good reading to 2,000 at 10am and it continued to rise until now.

The air quality in Palangkaraya was at a constant hazardous level since the past few days, and this morning the API reading reached 1,000, but it began to recover since yesterday.

Palangkaraya experienced haze emergency since last two weeks and the situation has crippled the residents' daily activities and all schools have been closed since Monday after the area was declared an emergency.

The haze in the province is caused by the peat land fires in Kalimantan and despite ongoing efforts to put out forest fires, the situation is uncertain.

Meanwhile in Jambi, the API reading is still at hazardous level although it has decreased from 800 this morning to 400 this afternoon.