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.
Hundreds of schools in Malaysia have been forced to close due to poor air quality, blamed on smoke drifting in from forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia.
A satellite image showed thick haze from a forest fire in Indonesia spreading into Malacca Strait, Singapore and Malaysia on September 14, according to the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency.
An airport on Sumatra island and schools in some provinces of Indonesia were forced to close on September 13 by smoke from forest fires in the country.
Satellite data on September 12 showed the number of blazes in Indonesia's rainforests has rose sharply, spreading smog across Southeast Asia and adding to concerns about the impact of increasing wildfire outbreaks worldwide on global warming.
Malaysia is planning to seed clouds to make rain as air quality in many areas of the country has reached unhealthy levels due to smog from forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has requested utmost efforts to extinguish widespread forest fires in the country, warning that officials would be sacked if they fail.
Malaysia’s sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin has urged the Indonesian government to ensure that haze from raging forest fires will not affect the 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 29) which will take place in Malaysia next week.
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