Haze turns Indonesian skies orange, shuts East Timor schools

Indonesian skies turned an apocalyptic shade of orange and yellow on Thursday due to a thick haze caused by regional wildfires, reducing visibility to just a few dozen meters. This pollution crisis prompted East Timor to close schools for three days, with residents in the capital Dili donning masks as the government warned of the severe air quality.

The haze has been so thick that motorbike taxi driver Heri, who works outdoors, has been struggling to breathe despite wearing a mask. He has been dealing with the smoky conditions for four months and fears for his livelihood if he cannot continue working. In East Timor, people were seen outdoors under a yellow-tinged sky, but many were wearing masks as the government had announced the school closures the previous day.

The pollution has been particularly severe in recent days, with 30-year-old midwife Sonya da Costa Soares noting that the smoke had been even worse earlier in the week. Indonesia experiences wildfires during its dry season, but this year's blazes have been exceptionally severe due to a strong El Nino-induced drought. These fires have burned through hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest and plantations across Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua, causing a surge in air pollution that has also affected Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and East Timor.

Save the Children urged regional governments to take urgent and ambitious action to tackle the crisis, emphasizing that children should not bear the burden of a situation they did not create.