Over 5,200 people killed due to air pollution due to forest fires in August and September - Indonesia

[Jakarta Current Affairs] It has been revealed that more than 5,200 people are estimated to have died in the two months from August to September due to the effects of air pollution caused by forest fires that continue across Indonesia. The report was compiled by the Finnish research institute ``Centre for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA)''.

According to a report dated October 29, CREA estimated the number of deaths based on factors such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air and population data. While there were 1,700 people in August, the number doubled to 3,560 in September.

At its peak in September, the number of citizens affected by air pollution reached 57.8 million, equivalent to about 20% of the country's population. The 2026 budget for the National Disaster Management Agency was cut to one-fourth of the previous year's size, limiting the agency's ability to respond to fires, which is said to be another factor behind the spread of contamination.

In Indonesia, forest fires occur every year due to open burning. On the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra, there are peatlands created by the accumulation of plants that have not fully decomposed. If a fire ignites, it will smolder underground, making it difficult to extinguish it.

Nusantara Atlas, an independent website that monitors deforestation, estimates that between January and September of this year, approximately 1.92 million hectares were destroyed by forest and land fires, an area larger than the size of Shikoku. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of patients with acute respiratory illnesses has exceeded 330,000 in the seven states affected by the fires.