Indonesia records 283,270 acute respiratory disease cases amid fires — Mongabay
In Indonesia, 283,270 cases of acute respiratory diseases had been recorded as of October 13 in seven provinces affected by forest and land fires. Smoke and haze from the fires have also spread to Malaysia and Singapore, while Indonesian authorities have faced criticism over their response to the crisis, Mongabay reports.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said on October 12 that the area affected by fires had decreased to less than 1,000 hectares, attributing this to large-scale government action. He cited data showing 639 hectares in the six hardest-hit provinces, where firefighters were working at the time. At the same time, the National Disaster Management Agency and the Ministry of Forestry clarified that this figure was not an estimate of the total area of fires still ongoing in the country.
Assistance from neighbors
Malaysia offered Indonesia a firefighting aircraft, three helicopters and 52 specialists, but as of October 16, according to the Malaysian side, no formal response had been received. Singapore also offered assistance. Indonesia’s coordinating minister for political and security affairs, Dudung Abdurachman, told Reuters that the country was still capable of handling the situation on its own.
Head of the government communications office Siahganda Nainggolan called the crisis a phenomenon that, in his words, goes beyond human error and is natural in nature. His remarks that Indonesia “sends” neighboring countries not only smoke but also oxygen drew criticism in Malaysia. Politician Andrew Chen Kah Eng said such comments downplay people’s health concerns.
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Pollution and threat to animals
Representatives of the Indonesian environmental organization Walhi argue that the fires cannot be explained by natural factors alone. They point to insufficient preparation for dry conditions linked to El Niño, as well as the long-standing practice of issuing permits for deforestation and peatland drainage. Drained peatlands ignite easily, and fires in them can smolder underground and are difficult to extinguish.
According to Greenpeace Indonesia, about 40 million people in Borneo and Sumatra were exposed to smoke during the previous two months. In Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan province, the level of fine particulate matter PM2.5 reached 308.2 micrograms per cubic meter on October 14, which is classified as hazardous. More than 11,000 cases of acute respiratory diseases have been registered in the city since the beginning of the year.
The fires also threaten orangutans. In West Kalimantan, rescuers and conservationists had saved 46 animals threatened by fire as of October 9. A rehabilitation center in Palangkaraya reported acute respiratory diseases in 47 orangutans.
