Indonesia's worst forest fire in 11 years... Aviation fighting has been difficult for a week due to haze

As air quality in Malaysia and Singapore worsens, ASEAN member countries discuss measures.

(Jakarta = Yonhap News) Correspondent Son Hyeon-gyu = In Indonesia, which is suffering from the worst forest fire in 11 years, aerial firefighting work has been disrupted for more than a week due to haze.

According to Bloomberg News on the 14th (local time), Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency reported at a recent cabinet meeting chaired by President Prabowo Subianto that water drop and artificial rainfall to extinguish forest fires in Kalimantan, central Borneo Island, are impossible due to thick haze.

He added that aerial firefighting has been difficult for over a week, so we have no choice but to rely on ground firefighting teams.

President Prabowo also ordered related agencies to mobilize additional resources, saying that only if it rains will the haze clear and aerial firefighting operations can resume.

He emphasized, “(Extinguishing forest fires) is a top priority for us,” and “This must be resolved immediately.”

The Indonesian government expects rain starting mid-month to help extinguish forest fires.

In the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra, forest fires have been occurring one after another since last August due to the El Nino phenomenon overlapping with the dry season and the dry weather continuing.

The Indonesian government announced that 202,000 hectares (1 hectare = 10,000 m2) have already been burned by forest fires that occurred between January and July of this year, and local environmental groups estimated that 637,000 hectares were damaged as of August this year.

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health, as of the 12th of this month, the number of people with respiratory diseases caused by forest fires in seven Indonesian provinces was 277,075. This figure is more than double the number of 113,336 people as of the 9th of last month.

This year's forest fires in Indonesia are the most serious in 11 years since 2015.

The total area burned by forest fires in Indonesia in 2015 was 2.6 million hectares, and in 2019, nearly 1 million hectares were burned by forest fires. The scale of damage this year is expected to exceed that of 2019.

As smoke spread from a series of forest fires in Indonesia, air quality in neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore deteriorated significantly.

As of the afternoon of the previous day, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, were all included in the top 10 major cities with the most severe air pollution in the world, according to IQAIR, a Swiss air quality analysis company.

The Philippines, which chairs ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) this year, announced that ahead of the summit next month, foreign ministers from member countries will seek solutions to the haze problem that is blanketing neighboring Malaysia and Singapore due to forest fires in Indonesia.