All schools, offices, factories, farms and other enterprises reopened Monday in Malaysia's Borneo island state of Sarawak after a state of emergency due to hazardous haze imposed there was lifted Sunday.
``Every thing is back to normal. The streets are busy once again. I feel great to be breathing fresh air once again,'' said Zarina Jahan, a marketing executive in Kuching, Sarawak's capital, 870 kilometers (540 miles) southeast of here.
``I can see the distant mountains once again after so many days ... Even the birds appear to be chirping happily once more, I think,'' she said when contacted by telephone.
``It has also been raining off and on the past few days ... It is also raining this morning,'' Zarina said.
The Environment Department said the Air Pollutant Index in Kuching had fallen to 31, which was in the ``good'' range, after rising to 838, past the ``hazardous'' to health range, last Tuesday.
In the API, a reading of 0-50 is considered ``good,'' 50-100``moderate,'' 101 to 200 ``unhealthy,'' 201 to 300 ``very unhealthy,'' and 300 to 500 ``hazardous'' to health.
Once the index goes above 500, as it did in Sarawak on Sept. 19, an emergency is imposed in the area. There is no curfew, but schools and businesses are closed and people are asked to stay indoors. If they have to go out they are encouraged to wear masks.
The rest of the nation also saw relief from the haze.
In Kuala Lumpur a heavy thunderstorm Sunday night, which briefly flooded some streets and areas, cleared the air and the API had fallen to 116 Monday from 153 Sunday evening.
No areas of Malaysia had recorded a hazardous reading since Sunday. On Saturday the northwestern Penang city had a hazardous level but that too went down Sunday.
Besides the welcome rain, the Environment Department said winds blowing from the South China Sea into Peninsular Malaysia and the from the Sulu Sea near the Philippines into Sarawak were helping clear the air.
Previously the wind blew from Indonesia, which resulted in the pollution being pushed into Malaysia.
Forest fires raging in neighboring Indonesia's Kalimantan, also on Borneo, and the island of Sumatra, across the Strait of Malacca from Peninsular Malaysia, have resulted in the region being cloaked in smog for more than six weeks.
The forest fires were helped by a drought which had hit Sarawak and Kalimantan for the past few weeks.
While welcoming the improvement, environment officials warned the fires were still burning and a change in wind direction could bring back the thick haze.
Officials estimate it may take weeks for the fires to go out unless heavy rains fall.
They said Indonesian and Malaysian firefighters would continue efforts to put out the fires as the source of the pollution has to be extinguished if there was to be a lasting clean atmosphere.