Wildfire Smoke Killed an Estimated 3,560 in Indonesia in September
Smoke from Indonesia's wildfires killed an estimated 3,560 people in September alone, twice the estimate for August, according to a new report. The figures are estimates and not a count of recorded deaths.
The Helsinki-based think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) put total deaths from air pollution in September at 5,310, within a range of 4,610 to 6,080. Fire smoke accounted for about two thirds of them. Another 1,750 deaths came from urban and industrial pollution. The total was 42 per cent higher than the 3,740 estimated for August. The estimates cover short-term exposure to fine particle pollution known as PM2.5.
Where the air was worst
A record 57.8 million people breathed air classed as unhealthy to hazardous in September, 40 per cent more than at the August peak of 41.3 million. In Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, the number breathing hazardous-level air on the worst days nearly tripled from 2.8 million to 6.4 million.
Central Kalimantan had the highest death rate, at 14.1 deaths per 100,000 people. Average daily PM2.5 reached 372 micrograms per cubic metre in Palangka Raya and 327 in Pontianak. Both are above the 300 mark that Indonesia classes as hazardous, and 22 to 25 times the World Health Organization's 24-hour limit of 15.
On Java, 73 to 80 per cent of air pollution deaths, or 1,530 in September, were attributed to non-fire sources such as industry, vehicle exhaust and waste burning.
Fires and illness
Satellite readings of fire activity in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua passed the 2015 records in September, according to CREA. Indonesia's national disaster agency recorded 1,024 hectares burning in a single 24-hour period on 19 October. More than 1.9 million hectares have burned in the nine months to September, according to the monitor Nusantara Atlas.
By 21 October the health ministry had recorded 333,470 acute respiratory infections across seven provinces, up from 283,270 on 13 October. In July and August there were 50,891. Children under five account for 75,172 of the cases.
Response and funding
Jakarta defended its response on Wednesday. It said it has deployed more than 72,000 people for cloud seeding and firefighting, activated more than 2,100 doctors and health workers and distributed 5.3 million masks. CREA said the national disaster agency's budget was cut by 75 per cent for 2026, from 2 trillion rupiah to 491 billion rupiah.
President Prabowo Subianto has so far refused to declare the fires a national emergency, despite calls from parliament, environmental groups and student protesters. Officials argue that regional capacity has not "completely collapsed". CREA said a national declaration would make Indonesia liable for transboundary haze. It urged the government to shift from responding to fires to restoring peatlands.
The smoke has spread to Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and East Timor. Indonesia cut gas exports to Singapore last Saturday, and Singapore has served legal notices on Indonesian companies it blames for the fires.
Source: The Independent