Nefri Inge
in Palembang

Image source, Nefri Inge

A family in Palembang, South Sumatra, says persistent haze from forest and land fires has left nearly every member sick, as respiratory illnesses continue to rise across the city.

Agus Winarni said all six members of her household, including four children, have fallen ill over the past two weeks. The sickness began with her youngest son before spreading through the family, causing coughs, fever, sore throats and eye irritation.

"The illness spread from one child to another. They became weak, developed coughs and fevers, and had to take turns visiting the doctor," she said.

Agus said the haze has become so thick that smoke seeps into their home through window vents, despite efforts to keep doors and windows closed.

Her husband, a motorcycle taxi driver, has been unable to work regularly because of the illness.

With schools shifting to remote learning because of the worsening haze, the couple's children have been attending classes online from home while recovering from illness.

Their latest challenge came when their daughter fell ill on Thursday night, and now cannot get out of bed as she suffers from vomiting, fever, dizziness and a sore throat.

"This morning she could only manage a few bites of bread," Agus said.

With several family members still recovering and income disrupted, Agus said the prolonged haze is taking both a health and financial toll on the household.

"Previous fire seasons were never this bad. Why is it so severe this time?" she said.

Image source, Nefri Inge

Liza Tambunan
Jakarta Correspondent

Despite efforts to put out the fires in Indonesia many of them keep burning. Official data shows the number of hotspots continues to fluctuate, rising again after a period of decline.

This is in part due to peatland fires, which burn underground and can continue to smoulder and re-emerge.

Peatlands are waterlogged ecosystems formed from layers of partially decomposed material that store vast amounts of carbon and are highly vulnerable to fire when drained or dried out.

“Fires in peatland areas are extremely difficult to extinguish. Even if all the fires are put out today, that doesn’t necessarily mean the fire will be fully contained by tomorrow, as new hotspots can emerge,” said Suharyanto, head of Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) in a statement on Tuesday.

Last month, Prabowo also established the National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency to strengthen peatland management and prevent recurring forest and land fires.

But the creation of the agency has drawn some scepticism over how effectively it will address existing challenges in peatland management.

“The government does not need a new agency simply to count activities and build infrastructure. Indonesia needs governance that can keep peatlands wet, halt further degradation, ensure accountability among concession holders, and protect communities that have borne the impact,” said Putra Saptian, a senior campaigner at Pantau Gambut, in a statement.

As Singapore has been blanketed by the haze in recent days, it has also been gearing up for the F1 Grand Prix which will see thousands of visitors descend on the city. The BBC's Vandhna Bhan reported on pollution levels at the F1 track in downtown Singapore on Thursday.

Transboundary haze has been a recurring point of contention in South East Asia for the past few decades, especially at this time of the year, as seasonal winds blow dense smoke plumes from Sumatra and Kalimantan across the Malacca Strait and South China Sea.

This composite image shows how smoke from the fires in Indonesia have spread over the last two months towards Malaysia, Singapore and parts of the Philippines.

Image source, Getty Images

As residents struggle with hazardous wildfire haze in Central Kalimantan, others have stepped forward as volunteers to help fight the fires.

Ramadhan Noverian Belmin, a volunteer firefighter with BPK Hiu Putih, told BBC Indonesia that this year's fires around Palangka Raya are "much worse" than in previous years." This year, there have been so many hotspots.

Even after they are extinguished, new ones appear. We put them out, and they appear again," he said on 23 September. Ramadhan said extremely dry land and vegetation have allowed fires to reignite quickly.

"When the wind picks up, the fire becomes active again immediately," he said. He also cited logistical challenges, including remote fire locations, limited water supplies and fuel restrictions for water pumps.

According to Ramadhan, each firefighting team is allocated 15 litres of fuel per day, enough to run a water pump for only about three hours. When fuel runs out before firefighting efforts are complete, volunteers often pay out of their own pockets to continue operations.

Despite the challenges, Ramadhan said his team remains committed. "As volunteers, there is no such thing as being tired. We keep fighting," he said.

You can read more about the volunteer firefighters in Indonesia in this piece by Gavin Butler and Ahmad Dhani.

This year's haze isn't the worst we've seen - yetpublished at 09:14 BST

09:14 BST

Kelly Ng
Reporting from Singapore

Image source, Getty Images

For some in South East Asia, this year's haze has been prompting flashbacks to 2015, which saw a disastrous fire season and months of severe haze blanketing the region.

Fires torched about 2.6 million hectares of land across Indonesia that year, which cost the country an estimated $16bn (£12bn) in economic losses, according to the World Bank's estimates.

Parts of Indonesia logged air quality readings five times the official "hazardous" benchmark. The Pollutant Standards Index hit 2,300 in the province of central Kalimantan, and firefighting helicopters had to be grounded because of poor visibility.

Schools were closed in parts of Indonesia, as well as in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore for days, and several sporting events were cancelled.

Here in Singapore, I remember people rushing to stockpile masks, fast food outlets suspending delivery services, and gyms offering discounted memberships as people were encouraged to cut down on outdoor activity. The community centre close to my home opened up rooms for residents who did not have air-conditioning.

The 2015 disaster prompted Indonesia to set up an agency to manage degraded peatlands, and to ban the issuance of new permits for clearing primary forests.

At a regional level, the 10 South East Asian countries agreed to develop a "roadmap towards a haze-free Asean by 2020".

Eleven years since the catastrophic season, the region is again choking on toxic smog.

Julianna Khan
Live reporter

As dense haze continues to envelope parts of Malaysia, it's not all gloom and doom for Malaysians who are channeling their frustration into posting humorous memes on social media.

The Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), which includes the iconic Petronas Twin Towers landmark, has been rebranded on social media as 'KLCannotC' after the towers were completely erased by the thick gray smog.

Social media users have posted photos of barely visible skylines, using the pun to draw attention to the persistent regional fires affecting millions.

Image source, @KlutzyKucing on Twitter

Image source, @u.ju.home on Instagram

It's not just humans affected by the haze - many animals living in the burning forests are struggling too.

All three species of orangutans that exist in the world today are classified as critically endangered. They can be found only in Sumatra and Borneo, which is also where the fires have been raging.

The wildfires have not only destroyed their habitats, but are also leaving them without food and water, experts say.

The wife of a ride-hailing driver who died in Palembang, South Sumatra, has told BBC Indonesia that she believes that the haze caused by forest and land fires may have contributed to his death.

Rika Yunita Sari said her husband Hardiansyah had suffered from asthma since birth and had repeatedly struggled to breathe during the haze season.

He always carried his asthma medication and wore a mask when riding his motorcycle, she added.

His asthma flared up after he woke up struggling to breathe last Friday, according to his wife.

Rika said she noticed her 41-year-old husband's breathing was unusually irregular at around 7am and rushed him to Bari Hospital in Palembang.

“There was no time to give him medicine anymore. We panicked and went straight to the hospital,” she said. Heavy traffic delayed the journey, and Hardiansyah's condition worsened on the way.

He was examined after arriving at the hospital but was pronounced dead at around 8:30am.

She believes smoke from the fires had become so severe on the day he died that it had seeped into their home. As the family's sole breadwinner, Hardiansyah continued working despite the poor air quality.

“My husband was the backbone of the family,” Rika said.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Singapore

Image source, Getty Images

On Thursday night, several F1 drivers in Singapore were asked by the media about how they plan to cope with the haze.

Carlos Sainz, from Atlassian Williams, admitted that "it doesn't feel like the healthiest of a place to be breathing right now given the amount of pollution from the fires in Indonesia".

But, he added, F1 is a "funny sport" because "anyway when we are racing, we are breathing the gasoline burn fuel of the car in front for all of our lives, and we've done that since we were 12 years old or 11 years old, so it's debatable whether it's a healthy or unhealthy sport."

"We do it, we like it, it smells great and I love the smell of fuel. The haze is a different matter obviously but we need to go by what the authorities say.”

Meanwhile Scuderia Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton said he hasn't thought about it as "I’ve had bigger issues to focus on. I haven't noticed anything outside, apart from the fact that we struggled to land because of the smog."

"So I can't really say much, unfortunately. The fact is we're all here.”

Indonesia has detected nearly 400 fire hotspots across the country over the past 24 hours, according to Nasa's active fire data tracker.

This is down from the more than 1,100 hotspots recorded over the previous day, although authorities have warned that the prolonged dry spell mean the risk of renewed fires remain high.

You'll see in the image below that the active fires are concentrated in South Sumatra and across Kalimantan.

Osmond Chia and Faisal Irfani

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The haze has long been a recurring problem, and has been weighing on economies across the region for decades.

This year, the fires in Indonesia could cost the country nearly 30 trillion rupiah (£1.3bn; $1.7bn) in economic losses, a study by the Center of Economic and Law Studies estimated.

The losses are a result of damage to burned assets as well as disruptions to economic activity, including trade, agriculture, and the food and accommodation sectors.

The health-related costs could also exceed 100 trillion rupiah, the research suggested.

In Malaysia, researchers estimate the haze has cost anywhere up to 400m ringgit (£74m; $98m) in healthcare fees in previous episodes.

Malaysian manufacturing groups have said poor air quality disrupts outdoor works and adds costs to companies that need to buy heavy-duty air filtration systems and other equipment.

Studies by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University estimated that one of the island-state's worst haze episodes in 2015 cost each resident about S$468 (£276.18; $365.89), with total economic losses reaching more than S$1.8bn nationwide.

Julianna Khan
Live reporter

TikTok creators in Kalimantan, Indonesia, have been documenting months of persistent haze on social media, posting videos of dense smoke and highlighting widespread respiratory issues.

Jojo, 35, posted a video of himself standing in the streets of a town in South Barito regency in Central Kalimantan, a thick yellow smog shrouding the roads behind him. His caption reads, “This is not normal”.

“We are disappointed with the Indonesian government's response to the haze, as this situation has persisted for several months," he told the BBC.

“Actions taken have been limited to firefighting efforts and the provision of oxygen shelters. We hope the central government will pay greater attention to the haze issue.

“Many residents are experiencing shortness of breath and headaches, and many infants are also affected by this haze."

Image source, @mencoba_fyp00 on TikTok

Videographer Yeka, 32, who uses a drone to film videos highlighting the severity of the haze in Palangka Raya in Kalimantan, told the BBC that conditions have been severe in his town.

“To cope, I rarely leave the house, and when I do, I have to wear a mask. I am certainly angry—especially since there seems to be no solution at all.”

“Ultimately, all we can do here is make our voices heard, as we are rarely listened to by the central government. It is through the content you see that we are voicing our concerns.”

Image source, @lovinsilence on TikTok

The BBC's Vandhna Bhan was out at Marina Bay in Singapore today where she described the experience of smelling - and tasting - the smog in the air.

Singapore and Kuala Lumpur's air is bad, but not the worst in the worldpublished at 07:27 BST

07:27 BST

Kelly Ng
Reporting from Singapore

Several reports have emerged, on news outlets and social media platforms, that Singapore is the city with the worst air quality in the world right now.

While it's true that the air pollution here is quite bad, this characterisation may be misleading.

Most of these reports are attributed to IQAir, a real-time monitoring platform which currently has Singapore on top of its "most pollutedglobal major city ranking", with an air quality index (AQI) of 217.

Malaysia's capital city Kuala Lumpur comes close in second place with an index of 210.

IQAir's fine print, however, defines this as a ranking of "approximately 120 major cities [including] some of the largest and most well-known metropolises around the world" – which makes this a subset of the world's cities.

Image source, IQAir

A separate monitoring platform AQI.In, which uses a similar air quality index as IQAir, has Sampit and Palangkaraya, two cities in Indonesia's Kalimantan region, on the top of its "real-time most polluted cities in the world" ranking.

This would make sense given that Kalimantan is where many of the wildfires have originated, and are still burning.

In Sampit, the AQI is at a "hazardous" level of 334, while in Palangkaraya the index is at 297, in the "severe" range, according to AQI.In.

This list contains 250 of the world's most polluted cities, regardless of their size.

Image source, AQI.in

Indonesia is battling its most destructive wildfire season in over a decade.

More than 60,000 sq km of land has been burnt so far this year, compared to nearly 100,000 sq km during the catastrophic season in 2015, according to data from the Global Wildfire Information System.

Data also shows that this year's wildfire season is on track to match at least 2014's levels. Overall data also shows that the burning tends to plateau by November.

Jaltson Akkanath Chummar
Asia business producer

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Organisers of the F1 race in Singapore have told the BBC that the possibility of haze is one of the many issues they have looked at in their planning for the event.

Their contingency plans include “ensuring availability of N95 masks on site if required," a spokesperson for Singapore GP said.

The race weekend is expected to host more than 300,000 fans over the three days starting from today.

“There is absolutely no risk to the event and the conditions where the event is taking place is not a concern," the F1 spokesperson added.

There have been reports that organisers were considering putting some restrictions on outdoor activities like entertainment events if the haze gets worse. JJ Lin, The Killers, Lana Del Rey and Janet Jackson are some of the big names scheduled to perform over the weekend.

But a representative from the FIA, the motor sports governing body, told the BBC "that is not the case" and shared a statement saying "air quality and haze are not forecast to represent a threat to track activity or the staging of the event".

Singapore's landmarks are disappearing in the haze - and so are those in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur. Footage from wire agencies shows the Petronas Twin Towers and the Menara Kuala Lumpur barely visible in the smog.

Farida Susanty
BBC Indonesia

Over the past few days, air quality in several areas affected by forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan has reached hazardous levels.

Residents have reported sore eyes, as if sand had been thrown into them, as well as persistent runny noses, throat irritation and dry coughs.

As of 8 October, data from Indonesia's Environment Ministry showed Palangka Raya in Central Kalimantan recording the highest Air Pollution Standard Index (ISPU) reading at 1,231, followed by Palembang in South Sumatra at 1,148.

Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan recorded 627, while PALI Regency in South Sumatra, near Palembang, registered 578. Kampar Regency in Riau recorded an ISPU reading of 373.

All five locations were in the highest "hazardous" category, indicating a serious risk to human health.