More than 170,000 respiratory cases recorded in haze-choked Indonesia
Some 175,000 people in Indonesia have suffered from respiratory illness since August, its health ministry said, as it continues to battle wildfires that have raged for weeks.
Since August, over 175,000 Indonesians have struggled with respiratory issues, according to the country's health ministry. The crisis stems from weeks of relentless wildfires, which have engrossed parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, coating the air in hazardous smog. This toxic haze has pushed air quality indices into the "unhealthy" range, prompting authorities to mobilize a massive response effort.
Over 54,000 officials and numerous aircraft have been deployed to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra to combat the infernos via water bombing. However, the sheer scale of the affected territory and the treacherous peatland conditions pose significant challenges to extinguishing the flames.
Indonesia's Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya emphasized on Monday that "all forces" were being deployed "from the air to the ground" to combat the fires, reduce the impact of the smoke, and most crucially, safeguard the public from the threat posed by forest and land fires. While wildfires are a recurring menace during Indonesia's dry season, which typically spans from July to October, this year's blazes have been exacerbated by an extreme El Nino event, which has intensified the already arduous conditions.
Indonesia's independent forest monitoring platform, Nusantara Atlas, detected approximately 734,000 hotspots across the nation as of Wednesday, a 30% increase compared to 2019, a year that marked one of the country's most severe wildfire seasons. Between January and September, at least 895,657 hectares of land – nearly six times the size of London – have been ravaged by the infernos.
The wildfires have triggered school closures and a surge in hospital admissions across Indonesia. By September 9th, the number of individuals suffering from wildfire-related respiratory illnesses had more than doubled to 113,336, compared to 50,891 on September 1st, as reported by the health ministry. The smog's toll extends beyond human health to wildlife, including critically endangered orangutans.
Last month, a wildlife foundation in Indonesia released footage of an orangutan gasping for air on a palm oil plantation in West Kalimantan, a province severely affected by the fires. Despite rescue efforts, the great ape succumbed to hypoxia shortly after being treated.
Written by urgent.news from MyJoyOnline Ghana's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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