Indonesia Wildfires Haze Crisis Deepens as Millions Struggle to Breathe

The indonesia wildfires haze crisis has intensified sharply, with officials confirming that more than five million people on Borneo and Sumatra are now directly exposed to putrid smoke drifting off dozens of fires burning across the archipelago. Indonesia has ramped up cloud seeding and water-bombing operations in response, while thousands of residents seek treatment for respiratory problems and neighboring countries brace for worsening air quality of their own.

The Human Toll of the Indonesia Wildfires Haze Crisis

Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono said 13,500 people were treated for respiratory infections in July and August alone, as the haze forced several schools to close intermittently. “Vulnerable groups that must be evaluated are children, the elderly, pregnant women with asthma and outdoor workers,” Dante said, warning that prolonged exposure to the toxic air can lead to serious long-term health complications. The ministry has distributed more than five million masks across the country as a stopgap measure.

In Palangkaraya, capital of Central Kalimantan on Borneo, non-governmental organisations have set up shelters equipped with baby formula, oxygen tanks, medicine, and even a small playground to give children and infants a place to breathe cleaner air. The shelters can accommodate only five children at a time, though more are being planned as demand grows. Katharina Abi, a 30-year-old mother, brought her one- and five-year-old children to one such shelter as thick smoke blanketed her home. “In the morning it’s not too bad, but in the afternoon and evening there’s so much dust, like there’s a fire nearby. It really bothers my breathing,” she said. “My children often have coughs and colds, maybe because there is a lot of smoke.”

A Fire Season Supercharged by El Nino

Officials have linked this year’s unusually severe fire season to a powerful El Nino weather pattern that some Indonesian officials have taken to calling “Godzilla” for its intensity. Between January and July, fires burned more than 200,000 hectares of land — an area roughly three times the size of the capital, Jakarta — according to government figures, putting the country on track for one of its worst fire seasons in years.

The haze has not stayed contained within Indonesia’s borders. Smoke has drifted across the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, making people in both Singapore and Malaysia unwell and prompting health warnings in both countries as air quality readings climbed.

Fighting Back With Cloud Seeding and Water Bombing

Indonesia’s national disaster agency, BNPB, said it has intensified firefighting efforts with some success. “Cloud seeding remains one of the measures to support efforts to tackle forest and land fires. Its implementation depends heavily on atmospheric conditions and the presence of rain-bearing clouds in the target areas,” said BNPB spokesman Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan. Cloud seeding involves scattering silver iodide, salts, or other particles into clouds to trigger precipitation, and on August 26 alone crews scattered more than 8,000 kilograms of salt onto clouds over fire-affected regions.

The agency said it has also poured more than four million litres of water on burning areas in recent weeks through aerial water-bombing operations. Berton said the combined efforts have succeeded in prompting light to moderate rain over east and south Sumatra and west Kalimantan this week, though he stressed cloud seeding alone won’t resolve the crisis. “Ground and air task forces continue working in the field to carry out extinguishing and cooling operations,” he said.

What Comes Next

With the dry season not yet over, officials are bracing for the haze to persist for weeks longer, even as authorities pursue enforcement against companies responsible for illegal burning — Indonesia’s forestry ministry has already processed dozens of forest fire cases and sanctioned several companies this year. For the millions living under the smoke, though, relief depends largely on rainfall arriving before the dry season’s final weeks play out.

Reporting via CNA/AFP.

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