TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesia fires surge as haze hits Malaysia
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Tourists look at the skyline on Aug. 12 in Kuala Lumpur, as the city lies shrouded in haze from wildfires in Borneo. (Reuters/Hasnoor Hussain)
I
ndonesia has seen an alarming surge in land and forest fires over the past month, with thick haze from burning in Kalimantan reaching neighboring Malaysia and prompting authorities there to close more than 100 schools.
Around 182,000 hectares of land and forest were burned in July alone, nearly twice the total area burned during the first half of the year, according to forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas.
The total area burned this year has reached 285,000 hectares, roughly the size of three Jakartas, with most hotspots recorded in West Kalimantan, South Papua, East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.
The fires have sent haze across the border into Malaysia, where thick smog has blanketed parts of Sarawak since Aug. 8, The Star reported.
On Tuesday, Sarawak’s capital Kuching was ranked the most polluted major city in the world, with air quality reaching unhealthy levels, according to Swiss air-quality monitoring company IQAir.
Read also: Schools close, flights delayed as wildfire haze blankets Kalimantan
Meanwhile, Malaysian Meteorological Department director general Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip attributed the pollution to “a cross-border haze phenomenon from Kalimantan”, Reuters reported.
