Haze in Indonesia causes 100,000 people to die early

New research by American scientists shows that haze generated from Indonesian burning is robbing hundreds of thousands of people every year.

A cloud of smoke due to forest fires could be the cause of 100,000 deaths early last year, the BBC reported today. More than 90% of deaths in Indonesia, the rest are citizens of Malaysia and Singapore, according to research by scientists at Harvard and Columbia, USA.

Smoke caused by burning forests in Indonesia.(Photo: AFP).

Air pollution in Indonesia is becoming more and more serious due to the burning of forest land for cultivation. Haze spread throughout Southeast Asia and lasted for several months in 2015.

Research is about to be published in the journal Environmental Research Letters using satellite image data and a computer model of health effects to determine early mortality. The research team determined that the number of people at risk of early death is between 26,300 and 174,300 and the average annual rate is 100,300 cases. Their report focuses on the impact on adult health and only assesses the effect of PM2.5, suspended particles of diameter less than or equal to 2.5 µm (micrometers) can be inhaled. into the lungs.

Indonesia's disaster management agency said more than 43 million people in the country must be exposed to haze and half a million people with severe respiratory infections .

"Without measures to change, this deadly haze will continue to increase mortality to a frightening level after only a few years," said Yuyun Indradi, Indonesia Greenpeace's forest advocate. , comment.