Forest fires blanket several Indonesian provinces, causing surge in people falling ill

Members of an Indonesian joint task force extinguishing a fire at a peatland in Pekanbaru, Riau province, on July 31, 2023. - AFP

JAKARTA (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Several provinces in Sumatra and Kalimantan have been blanketed with haze from raging forest fires that worsened in August, causing a surge in people with respiratory ailments such as sore throat and shortness of breath.

The Indonesian authorities are deploying ground patrols, water bombing and cloud seeding to stem fires in forests with large areas of peatland, Dr Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), told The Straits Times.