Earlier today, news reports showed that the Riau province in Sumatera hit the dangerous 500 mark on the Air Pollutant Index (API), forcing the Malaysian government to find ways to bring back about 280 people from the neighbouring country.

Just to give you an idea how bad the haze situation is, the Department of Environment's website indicates that an API of below 50 is good, 51 to 100 is moderate, 101 to 200 is unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, 301 - 500 hazardous and anything above that is extremely hazardous (darurat).

Although we have mostly evaded the dreaded 'emergency' level of air pollution here in Malaysia, the crisis is not really over yet, especially considering that this issue has been going on for years.

The haze this year may have been bad, but believe it or not, the country has seen worse.

When the sky turned black

In 1997, Southeast Asia was hit by one of the worst air pollution cases ever recorded, for the same reason it happened this year.

Yup... 22 years ago, the haze caused by forest fires in Indonesia was happening just as widely as it is now and not much has been done in that time to solve the issue.

But we digress.

In 1997, the Air Pollution Index (API) in Sarawak hit a jaw-dropping 850, way above the 'emergency' or 'darurat' level of 500.

According to this report by Utusan, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (who was also the leader at that time) announced the 'emergency' for the whole of Sarawak, which did not include perintah berkurung or curfew.

When a declaration of emergency or darurat is announced, all non-essential public and private places are advised to be closed.

Emergency - take two!

Unfortunately for us, that wasn't the only time an emergency was declared due to the haze.

In 2013, Malaysia and its neighbouring countries again saw a bad case of the haze, forcing the governments to close schools and in some states, even declaring the state of emergency.

At the time, Muar's API hit 750, one of the highest ever recorded in the country, according to several reports including this. Ledang was also similarly affected.

The haze is not just annoying. It affects the health of many - even leading to deaths, impacts the economy and is generally hazardous to all living beings.