The total damage and economic losses from forest fires in Indonesia this year has amounted to at least 5.2 billion USD, equal to 0.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, the World Bank said in a report on December 11.
The number of Indonesians suffering respiratory problems or ISPA caused by smoke from forest and peatland fires blanketing parts of Borneo and Sumatra in the past few months has reached over 919,000, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Agus Wibowo.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on September 17 that about 5,600 additional military personnel have been deployed to help 9,000 people currently fighting bush fires which have razed more than 328,700 hectares of land nationwide.
Indonesia is investigating 10 firms over worsening forest fires that have created a blanket of smog over Southeast Asia, according to the country’s authorities.
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