Malaysia rushes to evacuate students from Riau, Jambi
Malaysia is rushing to evacuate its students from haze-choked Riau and Jambi provinces in Indonesia, said the Foreign Ministry.
Wisma Putra said this followed a decision taken by the government to bring back Malaysian students from the haze affected Indonesian provinces.
“The evacuation process will involve students studying in the areas where an Air Pollution emergency had been declared by the Indonesian government from Sept 23 to Sept 30,” it said in a statement.
The haze situation in the region has reached an unprecedented level, with the air Pollution Index (API) reading registering between 550 and 700, which falls in the dangerous category.
The statement said the evacuation exercise would be carried out jointly by the Foreign Ministry and the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma).
It will also see the participation of other agencies such as the National Security Council and the Education Ministry.
“Currently, there are 300 Malaysian students studying in Riau and Jambi provinces,” said the statement.
It added that an operations room had been activated at the Foreign Ministry in Putrajaya and the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta to ensure the evacuation process runs smoothly.
To reach the Foreign Affairs Ministry Operations Room in Putrajaya, call 03-8887 4570 or 038887 4770, or email opsroom@kln.gov.my.
To reach the Malaysian Embassy, Jakarta Operations Room, call +6221-5224947, send a WhatsApp message to +6281380813036 or email mwjakarta@kln.gov.my or jkonsular@gmail.com.
Earlier in the day, Bernama reported that most of the students are in the cities of Pekanbaru and Jambi, which had been among the worst hit by smoke from forest fires raging in the province for the past few weeks.
Nadma said apart from students being brought back to Malaysia, others would be evacuated to the Malaysia Hall in Jakarta.
Most of the Malaysian students are studying at the Universitas Islam Negeri Sultan Syarif Kasim in Pekanbaru and Universitas Islam Negeri Sultan Thaha Saifuddin in Jambi.
The state of emergency was declared on Monday by Riau Governor Syamsuar.
It was reported that visibility in Riau’s main population centres has dropped to just 500m.
An API reading of between 0 and 50 is categorised as good, 51100 (moderate), 101 to 200 (unhealthy), 201 to 300 (very unhealthy) and 300 and above (hazardous).