JAKARTA, Indonesia — A peatland fire fueled by El Niño has destroyed nearly 300 homes in Indonesia’s Bangka Belitung province and forced about 1,000 people to flee, an official said Tuesday, as smoke from the country’s worst fires in years made Singapore and Kuala Lumpur the two most polluted cities on Earth, The Guardian and Al Jazeera reported.
Residents tried to put out the blaze with portable pumps after spotting it approaching their village on Saturday, said Riza Herdavid, head of South Bangka regency. “They thought it was taken care of. But it’s peatland, and there was still a fire smouldering underneath,” he said. “When they assumed it was over, the wind shifted and quickly drove the fire toward the settlement.” He said the village had been built on former peatland in a protected area. “My house is gone,” said Leni, 55, who was staying at a shelter with her family. “There’s nothing left.”
President Prabowo Subianto on Monday ordered maximum efforts to extinguish fires that have burned for three months in some places, and the cabinet secretary said more than 60,000 personnel were deployed, The Guardian said. Thick smoke has grounded 34 firefighting aircraft, including planes and helicopters, Malaysia’s foreign minister said, according to Al Jazeera. The fires, mostly on Sumatra and Borneo, are the country’s most intense in 11 years.
IQAir ranked Singapore and Kuala Lumpur the world’s two most polluted cities on Tuesday, with Air Quality Index readings of 199 and 183, Al Jazeera reported. Malaysian low-cost carrier Firefly extended its suspension of flights between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore through Wednesday, Singapore reintroduced subsidized care for haze-related illnesses for the first time since 2015, and schools remained closed in three Malaysian states and one federal territory.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said he would press for stronger regional mechanisms at next month’s ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting. “We already have an ASEAN mechanism for natural disasters, but haze is not included or classified as a natural disaster,” he said. The Philippines, which chairs the bloc this year, confirmed the issue is on the agenda.
Sources: The Guardian, Al Jazeera
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