Fire pollution killed 3,560 people in Indonesia in September: report

A scientific study by the Helsinki-based think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has revealed that air pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the country in September alone. The same month, about 57.8 million people were exposed to unhealthy to hazardous air, according to the report.

The worsening air quality due to forest and land fires in Indonesia led to a twofold increase in the death toll from the previous month, with most deaths occurring on Indonesia's part of Borneo island, as well as on Java and Sumatra islands and the country's east. The study estimated the number of deaths brought about by short-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution, which are deaths occurring within days of exposure, and found that non-fire pollution from urban and industrial emissions had caused an additional 1,750 deaths in September.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.