"3,500 Dead in a Month"... Indonesia's 'Worst Wildfires' Spew Toxic Fumes at 24 Times the WHO Limit, Fires Out of Control

Estimated death toll doubles from August
Respiratory illness cases exceed 330,000

A study has found that smoke from wildfires that burned for months across Indonesia caused severe air pollution and is estimated to have killed about 3,560 people in September.

According to AFP and other news agencies on October 30 (local time), the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based think tank, said in a recently released report that worsening air quality from wildfires in Indonesia last month is estimated to have caused 3,560 deaths. That is twice the estimated death toll for August.

On the 24th (local time), a man walks along a road shrouded in thick haze from a wildfire in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. AP-Yonhap News.

CREA estimated the number of deaths caused by short-term exposure to air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5). These particles are so small that they can penetrate deep into the lungs or enter the bloodstream. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that exposure to fine particulate matter increases the risk of disease and premature death.

According to the report, most of the estimated deaths occurred in Indonesian Borneo, as well as on Java and Sumatra and in eastern Indonesia.

The researchers also examined sources of air pollution other than wildfires. They estimated that pollutants emitted by power generation facilities, industrial facilities, and vehicles in cities caused an additional 1,750 deaths in September alone. The total estimated number of air pollution-related deaths in September in Indonesia, which has a population of about 290 million, reached 5,310. The Indonesian government has neither officially confirmed nor denied the estimated death toll.

In its report, CREA said, "In September, exposure to fine particulate matter exceeded the WHO annual average guideline by more than seven times nationwide," adding that "the level was 10 times the guideline in Sumatra and a staggering 24 times in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo." According to Indonesia's Ministry of Health, as of October 21, wildfires had caused 333,000 cases of acute respiratory illness.

Indonesia has been battling wildfires for months as drought has worsened due to El Niño. The large-scale fires repeatedly breaking out mainly on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra are at their worst level in 11 years, since 2015. The Indonesian government said it had deployed 72,000 people for cloud seeding and firefighting, that 2,100 medical workers were operating in affected areas, and that it had distributed 5.3 million masks.

According to Nusantara Atlas, an organization that monitors forest destruction, more than 1.9 million hectares of Indonesian forest were destroyed by wildfires between January and September this year. That is 32 times the area of Seoul.

Haze from the wildfires has spread beyond Indonesia to Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste, sharply worsening air pollution levels in neighboring countries. This has also heightened diplomatic tensions between Indonesia and its neighbors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.