PONTIANAK, Indonesia: Welcome rain has brought relief to residents of Indonesia's Pontianak city after weeks of exposure to a cloying, toxic haze given off by rampant wildfires on Borneo island.
Fires have torn through vast swathes of peat and forest areas on Borneo and nearby Sumatra island, with the resulting haze drifting also to neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.
The thick smog had limited outdoor activities in Pontianak, a city of about 700,000 people, with schools forced to shutter and thousands of respiratory cases recorded in the region since last month, according to officials.
Rains in recent days have brought a welcome respite, said homemaker Lilis Suryani, who has been worrying about the effects of the haze on her children's health.
"After the rain, I immediately felt the difference. The air was better, and the visibility was clearer," the 43-year-old said.
University student Uray Rosa Febrianti, 23, said that "the rain means a lot... not only to cool the air, but also to give hope that the situation is beginning to improve".
"I see it as a gift from God."
Indonesia has deployed firefighters assisted by volunteers across affected areas, and used cloud-seeding and water-bombing, with limited success.
The level of PM2.5 pollution in Pontianak was still more than 23 times the World Health Organization's safe limit at one point on Tuesday, according to IQAir, a Switzerland-based monitor.
Earlier this month, levels of PM2.5 in the city were over 100 times the recommended cap.
PM2.5 particles are so small they can enter deep into the lungs and even the bloodstream, with potentially dire consequences for health.
Indonesia regularly battles wildfires during the dry season, which in Borneo typically peaks between July and September.
The fires have intensified this year in part because of the El Nino weather phenomenon, set to be one of the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago.
El Nino typically brings severe drought to Indonesia.
Experts have also pointed to slash-and-burn land-clearing practices that have changed the naturally fire-resistant landscape. - AFP
