This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Indonesia has intensified efforts to fight wildfires with cloud seeding and water bombing as thousands of people nationwide battle to breathe through smoke and haze, officials said Friday. More than 5 million people on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra were directly exposed to the risks of a putrid haze from dozens of fires across the vast archipelago, according to Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono.
Some 13,500 people were treated for respiratory infections in July and August, Dante said. Several schools had been closed intermittently, and the haze has also made people in Singapore and Malaysia sick. "Vulnerable groups that must be evaluated are children, the elderly, pregnant women, people with asthma and outdoor workers," Dante said.
NGOs have set up two shelters in Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan on Borneo, for babies and children affected by the haze, with more planned. The shelters, which can accommodate only five children at a time, were equipped with baby formula, oxygen tanks, medicine and a playground. Katharina Abi, 30, brought her two small children, ages 1 and 5, to one of the shelters Friday as thick smoke blanketed their home.
"There's a lot of smoke at my house. In the morning it's not too bad, but in the afternoon and evening there's so much dust, like there's a fire nearby. It really bothers my breathing," she told AFP.
"My children often have coughs and colds, maybe because there is a lot of smoke." Dante said prolonged exposure to toxic air can cause serious long-term health complications. He said the ministry has distributed more than 5 million masks across Indonesia—a country of 289 million people dealing with the effects of a supercharged El Niño weather event dubbed "Godzilla." Disaster agency BNPB said Friday that the government has intensified efforts to battle wildfires, with some success. "Cloud seeding remains one of the measures to support efforts to tackle forest and land fires.
Its implementation depends heavily on atmospheric conditions and the presence of rain-bearing clouds in the target areas," BNPB spokesman Berton Suar Pelita Panjaitan told AFP. "However, cloud seeding is not the only effort, because the ground and air task forces continue working in the field to carry out extinguishing and cooling operations," he said. The agency said it has poured more than 4 million liters of water on burning areas in recent weeks, and on Wednesday alone it scattered more than 8,000 kilograms of salt onto clouds.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
