Sarawak Haze Hits Hazardous Levels as Regional Crisis Becomes Worst Since 2015

Six air-quality monitoring areas in Malaysia's Sarawak state recorded hazardous API readings on the morning of Sept. 1 — Serian 408, Kuching 402-407, Samarahan 371-372, Sri Aman 361-364, Sarikei 333-337, and Sibu 309-315 — as cross-border smoke from Indonesian Borneo peatland fires intensified. Sarawak health data showed asthma cases surging to 1,811 for the week of Aug. 23-29, up from 219 the prior week, with conjunctivitis cases rising to 720 from 146. Deputy Premier Douglas Uggah Embas warned that any area crossing API 500 would trigger emergency closure of non-essential services. Al Jazeera described the episode, which has directly exposed roughly 5.5 million people across Borneo and Sumatra, as the region's worst transboundary haze crisis since 2015, when Indonesian fires sickened more than 500,000 people.