Table of Contents

List of Figures .............................................................. 2 Introduction ................................................................ 3

API Index And The Causes Of Haze ............................... 5

API 2013 ...................................................................... 8

Steps to mitigate haze problems................................ 11

Negative effects of Haze on Humans Health ............. 15

Conclusion ................................................................. 18

References................................................................. 19

List of Figures

Figure 1 Haze is an atmospheric condition . .................................................................. 3

Figure 2 Haze blanketed Kuala Lumpur on June 27, 2013............................................. 5

Figure 3 API table ........................................................................................................... 7

Figure 4 API Reading in Malaysia ................................................................................... 8

Figure 5 Haze Condition in Malaysia at 19 October 2013 ............................................. 9

Figure 6 The correct way to use mask ......................................................................... 13

Figure 7 Tips to Minimise the Effects of Haze on Health ............................................. 12

Figure 8 Health Impact of Haze.................................................................................... 16

Introduction
Human being need to breathe every day in order to carry on their life. Our earths atmosphere provide us about 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and the rest are other gases. An incomplete combustion will produce soot, dust and carbon monoxide, which is a very dangerous gas. It prevents our blood from carrying oxygen to our body. The main air pollutants are: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, particulates, sulphur dioxide, and lead, where they are not the nature composition of our atmosphere air. Nitrogen dioxide is a light brown gas, which causes a large amount of smog to our atmosphere. Ozone is another smog gas, though it protects us when it is in the ozone layer, it is very dangerous for us when it is near the surface of the earth.

Figure 1 Haze is an atmospheric condition where particles, smoke, dust and moisture suspend in the air obscuring visibility.

(adopted: http://weatherandclimate.blog.umt.edu.my/2011/04/07/is-it-haze-makecountry-burst/)

Unfortunately due to some of our human activities we are trying to produce other gases to mix with our clean air, which cause our air to get polluted. These pollutants are undoubtedly threatening humans life due to the chemical displacement of the oxygen content in the air. Air pollution is a big problem for us who live on Earth especially to those groups of people include children, older adults, people who are active outdoors, and people with heart or lung diseases, such as asthma who are sensitive to common air pollutants such as particulates. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause cancer to our lung and destroy our respiratory systems. It can even cause death in extreme case.

We had experienced considerable serious air pollutions lately in Malaysia, which we known as haze. Haze is happened when sunlight come across tiny pollution particles in the air. Haze make we cant see things clearly through the air. The main measures pollutant during haze events is PM10, as concentrations of PM10 far exceed those of the other pollutants. Haze is kind of air pollution result from vegetation fires which are also known as biomass smoke. This smoke contains a lot of chemicals which can attack human health such as trace gases (e.g., CO, NO2, SO2) and particles matter (e.g., organic matter, graphitic carbon). Lung problems and eye deceases have been recognized as the common instant consequence of haze. Despite that, haze can increase the atmospheric greenhouse effects in long run.

API Index And The Causes Of Haze

Malaysias government declared a state of emergency (darurat) on August 2013 due to the air pollution index (API) speeded to exceedingly hazardous levels at peninsular Malaysia especially on the west coast area. It had become Malaysias worst environmental crisis since 1997. Smoke that result from forest fires in Sumatra, Indonesia, has shielded many areas in a thick smog that reduce the visibility. The dangerous combination of ash, dust, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide has contributed to unpleasant haze that obscured from view the tops of buildings such as the KL tower and Petronas Twin Tower in Kuala Lumpur. Some schools in Malaysia were closed temporary and the people were advised to stay at home and minimize outdoor activities.

Figure 2 Haze blanketed Kuala Lumpur on June 27, 2013.

(Adopted: http://phys.org/news/2013-07-haze-indonesian-malaysia.html#jCp)

API, which we known as air pollution index, was closely monitored and published on the newspaper daily to alert the public about the recent air condition in Malaysia during that period. API have been developed to notify the public about the pollution condition in order to protect public health from the negative effects of environmental pollutants. According to WHO(World Health Organization), these guidelines will measure the concentrations of the major air pollutants, such as ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulates ( usually measured as PM10). In Malaysia, currently we have 22 air quality monitoring stations, 17 at peninsular Malaysia and another 5 are located at Sabah and Sarawak. The API measurements are based on the five pollutants mentioned above. The values for each pollutant are measured in the scale from 0 to 500, a value of 100 represents the air quality standard for each country. Conventional haze measurements were by extracting the PM10 information then perform the data processing, the PM10 measurements were in micrograms per meter cube which were carried out by ASMA (Alam Sekitar Malaysia Sdn. BHd.). The PM10 measurements were later converted to API to study the haze intensity over the certain area. Table below show the API values for particulate matter up to 10 micrometers in diameter.

Index Values*

Levelsof Concern

Health Cautionary Statements

0 - 50

Good

None

51 - 100

Moderate

None

101 - 150

Unhealthy

for People with Respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit outdoor exertion.

Sensitive Groups

151 - 200

Unhealthy

People with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially the elderly and

children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

201 - 300

Very Unhealthy

People with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid any outdoor activity; everyone else, especially the elderly and children, should limit outdoor exertion.

301 500

Hazardous

Everyone should avoid any outdoor exertion; people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should remain indoors.

Figure 3 API table

Since 1990s, there are five separate haze episodes (1990, 1991, 1994, 1997 and 1998) occurred in South East Asia. Almost all of the haze episodes discussed is the result of biomass burning. The particles matters are the result from many sources, some of which are natural but some are anthropogenic. Natural sources comprise the forests and ground surface. The common sources that cause haze are from human activities which include forest open burning, land clearing, and combustion of fossil fuels in industrial tanks. When the wind speeds are low and the weather is dry, it helps the haze to be formed. Particulates produced into the atmosphere are confined within the motionless air mass causing the increment of particulate concentration.

API 2013
The Malaysian government is acting quickly to restraint and controls the widespread of the smog and the haze particles in Malaysia. The API reading is good when it is between 0 and 50, moderate when it is from 51 to 100, unhealthy when it is from 101 to 200, very unhealthy when it is from 201 to 300, and hazardous when it is above 300. The key source to the haze in Malaysia is the open burning agricultural waste during this dry period. Thick and dense haze from smog fires in Indonesia has continued to covering many parts of Malaysia until Malaysia government had to declare emergency in few areas. Under the emergency guidelines, which aimed to ensure public safety and health, had close down few schools and advise people to stay at home most of the time to avoid outdoor activities which will expose them to the dangerous of haze.

Figure 4 API Reading in Malaysia

The diagram above show the API condition in Malaysia around July time. (Quoted: The Star Online). According to The Star newspaper during July 2013, the Air Pollutant Index (API) in Kuala Lumpur was near the 200 level, or "very unhealthy", on Monday, while in Port Dickson it reached 335, which is belong to "hazardous" level. However, the haze condition in Malaysia until the date now had clear and the clear sky is visible. Below is the API reading getting from the Department of Environment in Malaysia up to date 19th October 2013.

Figure 5 Haze Condition in Malaysia at 19 October 2013

According to the API reading getting from the Department of Environment in Malaysia, the blue color indicate that the air in a city is in the good condition, while green indicate that the air in a city is in the moderate condition, the yellow, orange and red color mean that the air is in the unhealthy condition, which the red one is in the dangerous or we called hazardous state. Base on the diagram that we got on 19 October 2013, we can see that most of the city in Malaysia having the API reading from around 0-100, which is a healthy air condition. From here, we can see that Malaysia government had indeed fought a good fight to solve the haze problem we faced this year. Malaysia government had taken some necessary steps to prevent the haze become worst. Some mitigation steps have been taken during the haze period to ensure the health of the public can be protected. Prevention is better than cure, hence, some useful education had been given to teach the public about the haze, to increase the awareness of people about the condition of the air of our country. Many had learned how to read the API reading collected by the government, and people had follow the lessons given by the government to ensure each individuals health is protected.

Steps to mitigate haze problems

In our changing atmosphere, haze particulates can be removed through several processes. The finer particles are removed by condensation of water vapor onto tiny particles to form water dewdrops in the end producing clouds. Particles are also removed below cloud by collision with falling raindrops. Widespread heavy rain with thunderstorms is more effective to remove the haze particulates. Malaysia has already begun seeding clouds in an attempt and effort to induce rain to wash the haze pollutants away. Malaysia had also send firefighters to Indonesia to help extinguish the out-of-control fires. Officials from both countries are holding crisis talks in the Sumatran city, Indonesias Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said: We need a wetter climate for us to put into conducive efforts to put out the fires.

The occurrence of haze must be managed properly because haze may evolve into potentially complex emergency situations if handling it improperly. An early warning system must be developed, for example, traditional ground-based air monitoring and remote sensing should be operational to monitor the development of potentially haze. The collected information should be distributed to the public to alert the people about the recent air condition. Besides that, education is important to teach the people about the potential health impacts of haze. These education efforts should start before and during the occurrence of haze. In order to educate the public about the haze, the following aspects can be focus:

Informing the public regarding air quality levels from time to time Advising the public the necessary health protection actions to be taken Ensuring that medical and health supplies are available Establishing hospital facilities to mitigate health impacts; Minimizing locally generated air pollution.

Recently, the World Health Organization developed the Health Guidelines for Vegetation Fire Events to increase awareness of the potentially serious public health impacts of haze and how to response to it (Schwela et al., 1999). According to the guidelines, local government has the responsibility ensure that the people will be

aware of any changes in public services in an emergency situation such as darurat period in Malaysia. Moreover, special educational for susceptible people such as asthmatics, the elderly, and children will be given to guarantee that they are satisfactorily prepared to deal with haze.

Figure 6 Tips to Minimise the Effects of Haze on Health

(adopted: http://www.malaysiaedition.net/haze-take-precautions-public-told/)

To fight the fire result from the open burning, the best solution is extinguishing fires. However, proper pre-plan can be taken to prevent the fire from happening, health environment and meteorological agencies can cooperate together in the effort to forecast and predict the future haze occurrence. Despite efforts to prevent and control fires it is recognized that other prevention steps may be needed to help mitigate public health effects. People are recommended to reduce their outdoor

physical activity and stay indoors, where some facilities can be used to enhance indoor air conditioning. Lessening outdoor activity will undoubtedly decrease the amount of inhaled air pollutants and particulate matter from haze.

Facial masks can be distributed to the public in the efforts to mitigate health impacts of haze. There are many different types of masks with different filtration available in the market. Lower quality masks will offer even less protection, but the masks with utmost filtration efficiency must provide an impermeable seal around the face to reduce people exposure to haze. However, respirators and dust masks are uncomfortable and increase the effort of breathing (Jones, 1991). Wake and Brown had evaluated nuisance dust masks for their filtration efficiency. It was concluded that these masks are designed for coarse dusts and not for the particles matter in biomass smoke. (Wake and Brown, 1988). The Ministry of Environment of Singapore suggest that respirators mask are able to filter 80% to 99% of particles between 0.2 and 0.4 m which may be useful, but are uncomfortable and increase the effort of breathing.

Figure 7 The correct way to use mask

(adopted: http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/pressRoom/)

Air cleaners in the house to reduce the haze effects inside the house. The Environment Ministry of Singapore had found several air cleaner models which were capable to decrease the haze particles in typical living room to an acceptable level. Hence every house can actually place a special filter to window and split unit air cleaner to remove the haze particles. For central air conditioning systems,

electrostatic precipitators, high-efficiency filters can be added so that the haze particle level in the indoor air can be preserved within tolerable. The air cleaners with ion generators are effective in air cleaning. Additional protection approach is by provide emergency shelters inside large commercial building, school and shopping malls with effective air conditioning and particle filtration to susceptible group of people.

Negative effects of Haze on Humans Health

The size of haze particulates produced in vegetation fires is an important factor in understanding potential health risks. Only smaller particles (PM10) are inhaled and have the potential to cause adverse health impacts. The PM10 fraction will include additional particulates from suspension of soil and ash. Biomass combustion particulate is typically smaller than 1 m. Disclosure to biomass combustion products has been known as a major hazard factor for respiratory infections.

According to the BBC news, health fears have been outstretched by the threat of a reoccurrence of the haze in 2013 which covered South East Asia in 1997. The health effects result from haze can be categorized into two effects, which are: local effects systemic effects

Local effects can be concluded in eye, nose, and throat irritation. People with sensitive nose are more possible and expected to develop nasal congestion, sore throat and coughing if expose to the haze particles. Furthermore, there may be increased happenings of skin irritations as well for those with eczema. Whereas systemic effects are more serious compare to the local effects, which can range from respiratory conditions and disorders such asthma attacks, bronchitis to deteriorating of heart diseases, for example heart attacks or heart failure.

Children, elderly people and patients with past medical problems are more prone to adverse health conditions during haze period. They may be subjected to: Respiratory illnesses especially those with asthma and chronic obstructive lung diseases. Heart diseases especially to those with coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. Ear, nose and throat problems such as allergic nasal illness or problem with sinusitis. Chronic diseases with diabetes are more prone to cardiac conditions.

Figure 8 Health Impact of Haze

(Adopted from http://blissair.com/health-effects-of-haze.htm)

Lets look at our children, their organ system still under development. If they continue expose themselves to the haze, it will affect the development of their lung system. Once lung system gets affected, the growth of our children will be retarded. it will further affect the brain development of our children. As we know that the we all need oxygen to breath and oxygen will be carry by our blood to our brain and other parts of our body. Oxygen is needed to oxygenate our blood to carry the necessity to our body. Hence if our children continue to expose themselves to the haze

environment, their future growth will be a question mark. Furthermore, if the haze gets serious, it will cause death.

For those group of people, example those having asthma and lung problems, are the group of people who has the high risk to get affected during the haze period. They are having respiratory problem and need some treatment in order to live healthy. However, the haze consist of hazardous haze particles will further damage their respiratory system. This group of people is the group who has the high chance to be killed by the haze if the proper prevention didnt carry out correctly.

Last we look at the elderly people, who are at the age of around 60 and above, where their growth system had been stopped. if we look at the growth curve of human, we will know that once human reach 60 years old, their growth curve started to drop exponentially. it mean their body system include respiratory, excretion, reproduction system all growing backward. for respiratory system particularly, their lung getting slower in breathing, and their heart getting slower in beating. Mean their system need longer time to transport the oxygen to the whole body. In a situation of lack oxygen, the body will suffer because couldnt get enough oxygen, and the brain will start to feel panic due to the insufficient of oxygen supply. If the condition continue and getting worst, it will be very dangerous for the elderly people.

Conclusion
Haze consists of a lot of smoke and dust suspended in air to weaken visibility. Haze is caused by particulate matter from sources such as smoke, road dust, and other particles released into the atmosphere when smoky pollutants react in the atmosphere. These haze particles frequently develop as moistness growths, it will further weakening the visibility. Visibility regularly is measured as the furthermost distance from which a person can see scenery. Haze initiate come from from extensive forest and land fires is regarded as by a high concentration of particulate matte through specific emission characteristics of land and forest fires. Haze is predominately made of very fine particles with a diameter of less than 10 mm. Particulate matter which less than 10 micrometers in size can penetrate into the human lungs. Exposure to particulate pollution can cause premature death, difficult breathing, aggravated asthma, increased hospital admissions and increased respiratory symptoms. People most at risk from exposure to fine particulate matter are children, the elderly, and people with chronic respiratory problems. The effect of haze on light and visibility has an impact on economic production, public and private transport, and tourism growth. Several smoky mixtures in the haze are expected to affect global environment and cause serious climate change. Transport such as air flight was also severely disrupted by haze. Temporary closings down of airports and cancellation of flights had brought inconvenient to peoples life. It also caused economic losses and aircraft and maritime accidents were compounded by sharp falloffs in tourist arrivals. The hierarchy for health protection during haze period can be controlled by reduced physical activity and remaining indoors. To enhance the protection offered by remaining indoors, individuals/building managers should take actions to reduce the air exchange rate. The least desirable measure is the use of personal protective equipment, such as dust masks. Accordingly, in the absence of other mitigation techniques, the use of dust masks is warranted. Education of the population regarding specific mask types to purchase, how to wear masks and when to replace them will increase their effectiveness as will the development of new masks designed for general population use.

References
Malaysian Meteorological Service. Environment Meteorological Services http://www.kjc.gov.my/people/environ/environ.htm

World

Health

Organization.

Sustainable

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and

Healthy

Environments Protection of the Human Environment. WHO Guidelines for air quality. http://www.who.int/peh/air/airindex.htm

Abdullah M. 1996. Malaysia: Country Report. In Proceedings of the ASEAN Network on Environmental Monitoring (ASNEM) on the Third ASEAN Workshop on Air Quality Monitoring and Analysis with Emphasis on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Environmental Research and Training Center (ERTC), Pathumthani, Thailand, 26 February-6 March 1996, pp. 177188.

Brook, J. 1998. Prediction of past PM10. In: The Study of Haze. Draft final report prepared for the State Government of Sarawak. Associates Coastal Engineers Ltd. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. W.F. Baird &

Health Advisory For Workplaces During Haze, www.moh.gov.my/v/advice

Health and Haze: A health guide for TMT readers, www.themalaysiantimes.com.my/health-and-haze-a-health-guide

Health Effects Of Haze, http://www.moh.gov.sg/content/moh_web/home/pressRoom/pressRoomItemR elease/1997/health_effects_of_haze.html

Haze take precautions, public told, http://www.malaysiaedition.net/hazetake-precautions-public-told/