JAKARTA, Sept 6 — A thick blanket of toxic haze is again smothering large parts of Southeast Asia, as weeks-long wildfires across Indonesia continue to burn and drift into neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Millions of people across the region have been exposed to smog that in some areas has reached levels described as “acutely unhealthy” — more than 15 times the World Health Organization’s recommended level.
Many of the fires have been burning across Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo, known as Kalimantan, since mid-July, underpinned by a so-called “Super El Niño” that is exacerbating drought conditions. Indonesia’s Health Ministry recorded more than 50,000 cases of respiratory infections linked to the land and forest fires between July and August, with more than 12,000 of those cases involving children under the age of five.
In Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, 19-year-old teaching assistant Rizma Nur Fatimah told the BBC the smog in her classroom had grown so thick “you couldn’t even see your own feet.” “Even inside the house, with everything closed, the haze still got in,” she said. “We’ve been living with this since I was born. It’s the same every year, so we’ve almost become resigned to it.
But this year is worse.” Misbah, a 23-year-old mother from the nearby village of Pengayuan, said her three-year-old daughter had developed “a cough, a sore throat and a runny nose” during the haze. Some 1,300 kilometres away, in the Philippine island province of Palawan, residents reported similar symptoms — itchy eyes, nose, and throat.
Dr. Precious Bañas-Melad described the local toll: “We are now experiencing mild headaches. My cousin who isn’t allergic to anything started developing allergies. My husband is the first one who had itchy eyes and throat.” Malaysia, meanwhile, has reported rising cases of asthma and conjunctivitis as smoke continues to drift across its border.
A crisis decades in the making
The fires are not new. Experts trace the roots of the crisis to decades of land-use change dating back to the Suharto era, when vast areas of rainforest and peatland in Kalimantan were opened for logging, plantations, and large-scale development. Today, environmental groups, researchers, and government investigations have repeatedly alleged that many fires are deliberately set to clear land for agriculture — particularly for palm oil and pulpwood plantations.
The blazes release massive amounts of carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, which can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause severe health problems. The haze has already forced school closures and driven residents to wear masks outdoors.
Indonesia has deployed water-bombing aircraft and cloud-seeding operations to fight the fires, but the scale of the blazes has overwhelmed those efforts. The “Super El Niño” has made peatlands — naturally fire-resistant when wet — highly flammable. The event is reminiscent of the 2015 Southeast Asian haze crisis, also exacerbated by a strong El Niño, which resulted in some of the worst air pollution ever recorded in the region.
As the fires continue to burn, health officials warn that respiratory infections and other haze-related illnesses are likely to rise further. The BBC reported these developments, with reporting by BBC Indonesian’s Gavin Butler and Virma Simonette.
