Toxic haze smothers Palangkaraya for weeks, leaving Borneo residents coughing and classes online

The skies over Palangkaraya, a city on the Indonesian island of Borneo, have been covered for weeks by thick haze. Residents say the toxic smoke drifting from wildfires has disrupted their lives on three fronts at once: their health, their incomes and their education.

The experience of Sifra, a 29-year-old homemaker, captures the most familiar picture of the crisis. She says she, her husband and their children have been coughing for almost a month, with smoke seeping into their home so that nobody in the family can rest comfortably.

Street vendors have felt the haze directly in their earnings. Melsi, a 40-year-old vendor, says her sales have fallen sharply since the haze set in, even as the cost of goods keeps rising. Fighting back tears, she says things have been really bad ever since the haze began; her main hope is for it to clear and for her business to return to normal.

Students are finding the situation no easier. Novita, a 20-year-old college student, says a severe cough has left her struggling to breathe. At the same time, online learning has already lasted nearly an entire semester, keeping her and her classmates away from normal classroom education.

From the residents' accounts it is clear the haze is no longer just a weather story; it is a daily health risk. When smoke enters the home, even the place of rest is no longer safe for the whole family, children and elderly included.

The income damage is being felt most by people who live from day to day. Caught between fewer customers and rising prices, small vendors are struggling simply to run their households, as Melsi's account shows.

In education, months of online teaching mean trying to keep studying outside the classroom, while illness undermines even that effort. Students like Novita have to keep up with their studies while battling coughs and breathing difficulties.

Palangkaraya's picture is part of Borneo's seasonal wildfire crisis, in which smoke from burning land drifts on the wind into urban life. For residents, it is the fact that this year's haze has lasted for weeks on end that has multiplied their suffering.

With health, income and education hit at the same time, the city's normal rhythm has broken down. Going outside or staying at home, neither offers relief.

Residents now have a single expectation: that the wildfire smoke stops and the sky clears, so children can breathe again, vendors can return to work and students can return to their classrooms. When that wait will end remains uncertain.