Air quality in Sarawak right now

Sarawak is Malaysia’s largest state and the one closest to the Kalimantan fires, which makes its haze season a different event from the peninsula’s — it can arrive earlier, from a different direction, and hit the southwest around Kuching hardest. The state also has extensive peatland of its own, and peat fires are slow, smouldering and difficult to put out once they start.

Main local sources

• Transboundary smoke from fires in Kalimantan, particularly affecting the southwest
• Local peat fires, which can smoulder for weeks and are hard to extinguish
• Land clearing and plantation burning during dry spells
• Industrial activity around Bintulu and Miri

How the year runs here

Sarawak’s exposure is tied to the Kalimantan fire season rather than purely to the peninsula’s haze window, so its bad spells do not always coincide with the west coast’s. Sustained rain is what reliably clears it.

Readings on this page cover Kuching, Miri, Sibu, Bintulu, Sri Aman and Samarahan, to the extent that stations in those areas are reporting. Each figure is named with the station it came from, so you can judge how close it is to you.

For how the index is calculated, why it differs from Malaysia’s official API, and where the data comes from, see the national air quality page.