Borneo Is Burning: Toxic Haze Blankets Southeast Asia and Makes Hundreds of Thousands Sick

Wildfires that have burned for months in Indonesian Borneo have cloaked large parts of Southeast Asia in a toxic haze. Hundreds of thousands of people have fallen sick because of the smoke, and children are suffering the most.

In Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, mother-of-three Dianyra Eka Nastiti grows most fearful at night. 'Sometimes at night my baby's chest makes a rattling sound,' she says. 'She was hospitalised for bronchopneumonia when she was just a month and a half old, and every single night I worry: will my child cough tomorrow?'

According to the satellite platform Nusantara Atlas, wildfires have torched some 1.9 million hectares across Indonesia since the start of the year — an area roughly the size of the US state of New Jersey, or the entire nation of Fiji. One million hectares are thought to have burned in September alone.

Swathes of smouldering forest, swamp and peatland have filled the air with microparticles and carbon monoxide, creating a noxious cloud that has swaddled Indonesia and drifted as far as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The tiny particles in peat smoke can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, causing inflammation, chronic lung disease and a higher risk of premature death.

Indonesia's Health Ministry had by mid-October recorded more than 277,000 cases of chronic coughs and acute respiratory infections. More than 62,000 of those were infants and toddlers under the age of five.

Natari Victoria, 22, was admitted to a health centre in Palangkaraya after suffering from a cough for more than a week. 'The forest fires have had a huge impact, especially on everyone's health,' she says. 'I have young cousins, including babies, who are coughing too. It's really taking a toll on them.'

Riduan, head of the Palangkaraya Health Office, says the city's sky has turned yellow and hazy, and that residents are breathing not fresh oxygen but carbon dioxide and pollutants — as a result of which the body, specifically the brain, does not get enough oxygen. Children, older adults and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of haze.

Official advice is to stay indoors, but residents say that is unrealistic. Nastiti says she still has to buy vegetables, stock up on food and purchase school supplies; yet when the haze grows heavy she forces her children inside, so instead of playing at the park they are locked in the house. Lola Macitri, 37, from the village of Ramang, 50 km north of Palangkaraya, says her children have been doing school classes online while adults struggle to manage half a day's work in the poisonous air.

Countless farmers, daily-wage earners and small vendors have been forced either to sacrifice their livelihoods or endure the risk of stepping outside. 'If you ask whether we are afraid of the health risks, of course we are,' Macitri says. 'But where else can we go? We just have to endure and stay strong, because there is simply no other option.'

The government is under mounting public pressure to do more to stop the fires, with many criticising what they see as a woefully inadequate response. Authorities insist they have pursued measures from aerial waterbombing to experimental weather modification; last week the government said it had deployed more than 60,000 personnel in a land operation, claiming an 80 per cent success rate in extinguishing new fires.

But resources are fast depleting for responders on the ground. Firefighter Juni has been fighting the fires for more than 100 days: on the surface the flames are out, but underground, smouldering blazes keep burning through peat. The smoke has left him with shortness of breath, a persistent cough and pain in his eyes; asked what he needs, he says: 'air.' Fellow firefighter Fauzi Rahman says peatland fires require a lot of water and a long time — a large team can clear 20 hectares of regular land in a day, but peatland can take months, and right now water is hard to find.

Seasonal wildfires are not new to Indonesia, but this year a so-called Super El Niño has amplified drought and delayed the rainfall critical to extinguishing peat fires. Dr Nisa Novita, a forestry expert and peatland researcher at the Indonesian conservation NGO YKAN, says every safe and effective option must be used urgently, like trying to save a sinking ship. Her team has also reported fires spreading into areas with no history of fire before. For the people of Palangkaraya, the greatest hope now is heavy rain.