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The Star

Reuters

Cloud seeding operations will be carried out in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya following worsening haze conditions in Malaysia, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.
The agency said the operations would be scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
“However, the operations are subject to weather conditions and the availability of suitable clouds for the seeding process,” its director general, Meor Ismail Meor Akim, said in a statement on Saturday.
The operations will be carried out by the agency in collaboration with the Malaysian Meteorological Department, Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia and the Air Force.
An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft will be used as the main asset for the cloud seeding operations.

Malaysia and Singapore are registering unhealthy air conditions caused by Indonesia’s most intense wildfires in 11 years. Indonesian Forestry Minister ‌Raja Juli Antoni has warned that the wildfires could continue until November this year.
On Friday, Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said ⁠⁠he would receive aid from Malaysia to help contain forest and land fires that have been raging for weeks.
Kuala Lumpur offered three helicopters, an aircraft and 52 personnel to help put out the wildfires, Prabowo said in a statement after meeting Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at his house on the outskirts of Jakarta.
“Malaysia has offered assistance to help us address the forest fires in Kalimantan. I welcome this with gratitude and pleasure,” Prabowo said.
The ⁠fleet and firefighter teams would arrive in Indonesia soon, he said, without giving further details.
In a meeting with his cabinet, the president said there would be zero tolerance for people or corporations found responsible for starting wildfires.


“I have asked the state secretary and the minister of law to look into this further, specifically regarding legal sanctions,” he said late on Wednesday.
Following Prabowo’s remarks, Indonesian police official Mohammad Irhamni told reporters on Thursday that police had launched 219 criminal investigations linked to the fires, with 162 people named as suspects so far.
Police were also investigating 95 companies, he added, but did not disclose how many of them were suspected of criminal offences.
“We in law enforcement are striving to identify the perpetrators of the burning, whether individuals or corporations, as this criminal act has already occurred and caused harm to the public,” Irhamni said.
Indonesia has deployed more than 50 aircraft to conduct water bombing and cloud seeding operations to help battle the fires.
Japan also joined Indonesia’s water bombing operations on Wednesday and Thursday. Japan sent over three CH-47 Chinook helicopters last week but poor flight conditions delayed their participation.
From January to July this year, fires raged across 202,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of land, government data showed. Environmental group YKAN has estimated that fire damaged another 600,000 hectares in August.


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Malaysia’s prime minister’s office in Putrajaya is partially obscured by haze on Thursday. Photo: AP

People swim in a sky pool against a city skyline blanketed in haze in Kuala Lumpur, on September 7. Photo: EPA

The Kuala Lumpur skyline is obscured as Malaysia’s capital records an unhealthy 192 on the air pollutant index on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

A residential area in Kuala Lumpur is blanketed in haze on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

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Scenes from across Southeast Asia as dense transboundary haze from widespread forest and peatland fires triggers severe air pollution. Photos: EPA

Firefighters spray water on a wildfire in South Sumatra, Indonesia, on September 5. Photo: EPA

Students walk home along a street in Jambi, Indonesia, after being released from school early due to the haze in September 2015. Photo: Antara Foto/Wahdi Setiawan/Reuters

A ship sails through thick haze in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

Dock workers walk amid thick haze from forest fires at Kijing Port in Mempawah, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Thursday. Photo: AP

Haze shrouds Singapore on September 4. The city state’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act 2014 lets it prosecute companies for haze pollution. Photo: EPA

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A drone view shows a barge being towed along the Kapuas River, shrouded in haze from wildfires, in Pontianak, Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

People travel on a riverboat as thick haze from forest and land fires blankets Benua Melayu Darat village in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Staff members of the Regional Disaster Agency spray water to extinguish a fire in a peatland area burned by wildfires, in Kubu Raya, Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

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Firefighters extinguish a peatland fire at Tambang in Indonesia’s Riau province on Tuesday. Photo: Wahyudi/AFP

Tourists look at the skyline of Kuala Lumpur shrouded in haze from Indonesia’s wildfires earlier this month. Photo: Reuters

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A thick haze shrouds Metro Manila due to smoke from ongoing fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire in the Tumbang Nusa area of Pulang Pisau, central Kalimantan, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Haze shrouding the area around the Sarawak Legislative Assembly building in Kuching, Malaysia, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

An Indonesian prays for rain at a mosque in Pontianak, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, as haze from wildfires blankets the area. Photo: Reuters

As toxic haze spreads, can Indonesia make land burners pay?

A helicopter drops water to extinguish a wildfire burning through peatland in Jambi province, Indonesia, on Monday. Photo: BPBD Jambi/AP

Government buildings shrouded in haze in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Tuesday. Massive forest and land fires across parts of Indonesia have sent haze towards the neighbouring nation. Photo: EPA

Junior school students wear face masks at a school in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia on Friday, as a result of widespread forest and land fires. Photo: AFP

A haze-shrouded road in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Thursday. Smoke from widespread forest and land fires has significantly reduced visibility and degraded air quality across the province. Photo: AFP

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Asia

Southeast Asia

An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft will be used as the main asset for the cloud seeding operations


An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft will be used as the main asset for the cloud seeding operations.


Malaysia deploys air force aircraft for cloud seeding to combat worsening haze

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft will be used as the main asset for the cloud seeding operations

An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft will be used as the main asset for the cloud seeding operations