Image source, Jennifer Kang

Earlier this week the BBC's Asia Specific podcast spoke to a Malaysian woman visiting Kuching in Malaysia's Sarawak state.

Sarawak borders Indonesia's Kalimantan where many of the fires are located.

Jennifer Kang said the haze was so bad as her plane descended on the runway on Sunday afternoon: "We could not see anything below us".

What struck Kang was how little seems to have changed since three decades ago, when she was working in Kuching.

She recalled the 1997 haze crisis which "just went on for a long time where we felt like we couldn't see the sky. It was really awful. The economy slowed down, tourism stopped, flights were cancelled. It was really disruptive.

"Thirty years later, we know a lot more. We know what causes the fires. We know how to prevent it better. But yet here we are today with really bad air quality [still]. This is not normal.

"The bigger question is not how we cope with the current haze situation, but what more can we do to prevent it."

We now bring you images from Palembang in South Sumatra, on an Indonesian island east of Kalimantan.

From the air, Pelambang's massive Ampera Bridge and a light rail transit station nearly disappear behind the thick haze.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Faisal Irfani
BBC Indonesia

Indonesia's forest and peatland fires are not a new phenomenon. Experts say the crisis is rooted in decades of land-use change, dating back to the Suharto era, when vast areas of rainforest and peatland in Kalimantan were opened for logging, plantations and large-scale development projects.

Today, large-scale fires are often associated with the expansion of industrial plantations and other commercial land use. Environmental groups, researchers, and government investigations have repeatedly alleged that some companies use fire as a cheap and effective way to clear vast areas of land.

Researchers argue that while drought and El Niño conditions help fires spread, the severity of the haze is also linked to human activity. Drained peatlands, industrial timber estates and oil palm plantations can leave landscapes more vulnerable to burning, with fires often recurring in the same areas.

Unlike traditional uma bukit practices, which are small-scale, community-managed, and closely monitored, fires linked to large-scale land development can be far more difficult to control and can cause environmental and public health impacts on a much larger scale.

Faisal Irfani
BBC Indonesia

Image source, Getty Images

For centuries, communities across Kalimantan have used small, controlled fires to clear land for farming. They cut vegetation, burn it carefully, and used the ash as a natural fertilizer to improve soil fertility.

Among the Dayak Kanayatn people of West Kalimantan, the practice is known as uma bukit, or hill farming. According to community representative Tono, it is not simply an agricultural activity but a tradition passed down through generations.

Plots are typically small, usually less than two hectares, and farmers must follow customary rituals before clearing land. Tono says the practice is rooted in maintaining balance with nature and giving thanks to ancestors.

After several years of cultivation, farmers move to another area and allow the previous plot to recover naturally.

Indigenous communities have often rejected accusations that their traditional farming methods are responsible for large-scale forest fires. Tono said Dayak communities are frequently used as scapegoats despite carrying out land clearing with extensive planning and caution.

Research on major wildfire episodes in 1982 and 1997 found that authorities often focused blame on small farmers and Indigenous communities rather than industrial actors operating in Kalimantan.

Liza Tambunan
Jakarta Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The most devastating forest and land fires in Indonesia in recent years occurred in 2015, the last time the country faced a "super El Niño".

According to the government, 2.6 million hectares of land across Indonesia burned between June and October that year - equivalent to four and a half times the size of Bali.

Twenty-four people died because of the fires, which spread across forest and carbon-rich peatlands, exposing millions to toxic smog.

The wildfires also created a haze crisis in South East Asia, engulfing neighbouring countries in thick smog that lasted months.

Widespread fires also occurred during subsequent El Niño years, including in 2019 and 2023, though not to the extent of 2015.

Fires in the Ketapang area of Indonesia's West Kalimantan province have blackened the ground of a palm oil plantation.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

Misbah, a 23-year-old mother from Pengayuan village in Banjarbaru, lives near a wildfire site and has a three-year-old daughter who attends a kindergarten located just about 20 steps from burned land.

She said classes were suspended for 10 days and moved online because of the haze.

"By around 7 a.m. the smoke got even thicker. Visibility was only about two meters," she said.

Misbah said her daughter developed "a cough, a sore throat and a runny nose" during the haze, while smoke also seeped into their home despite efforts to seal openings.

"The haze got into our house. Many families sealed gaps in their homes to try to keep the smoke out."

Misbah said wildfires occur in the area every dry season and have become a recurring reality for local residents, but she described this year's fires as the worst she has experienced.

"I just hope the government can find a solution to the forest fires."

Joel Guinto
Live editor

Image source, Getty Images

Filipino meteorologists say the haze is being blown north from Indonesia to the Philippines by the "habagat".

That's the Filipino term for the monsoon, which at this time of the year is moving from the south-west of the equator.

The habagat is the same weather system that has brought torrential rain to large swathes of the Philippines for much of August, causing widespread flooding that has disrupted the lives of millions.

For Filipinos waist-deep in seasonal floods, the haze is an additional misery.

Parts of Metro Manila, Luzon and the Visayas have been affected by the haze.

Liza Tambunan
Jakarta Correspondent

Indonesia’s Health Ministry has recorded over 50,000 cases of respiratory infections between July and August that were linked to land and forest fires.

Over 12,000 of those cases are of children under the age of five.

The ministry says it has deployed hundreds of health workers to provinces that are worst-hit, as well as distributing assistance such as masks and oxygen tanks.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Malaysia has reported rising cases of asthma and conjunctivitis amid worsening air quality nationwide as smoke drifts across the border from Indonesia.

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

A kindergarten class in a wildfire-prone area of Banjarbaru, in South Kalimantan, resumed this week after being suspended for up to two weeks because of severe haze.

Rizma Nur Fatimah, a 19 year-old teaching assistant at the school, said conditions became so bad that “you couldn't even see your own feet” through the smoke.

“Even inside the house, with everything closed, the haze still got in,” she said.

While classes have resumed, Rizma said many children and their parents have suffered respiratory illnesses.

"We've been living with this since I was born. It's the same every year, so we've almost become resigned to it," Rizma said.

"But this year is worse because the winds are stronger.”

Astudestra Ajengrastri
BBC News Indonesia

Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has expressed condolences following the death of a volunteer firefighter who was involved in efforts to combat land and forest fires in Central Kalimantan.

The volunteer, Akhmad Rijani, headed the Serbu Api firefighting team in Palangka Village, Palangka Raya.

According to local reports, Rijani collapsed while inspecting and responding to a wildfire site on Rungan Road in the Jekan Raya district. He was evacuated and received treatment at Betang Pambelum Hospital for six days before he died.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the wildfire volunteer who passed away during a forest and land fire mitigation mission in Kalimantan," BNPB acting disaster information chief Berton Panjaitan said during a press briefing yesterday.

Following the incident, Palangka Raya authorities announced mandatory health screenings for all wildfire volunteers and firefighting personnel before they begin daily operations, as large-scale land and forest fires continue to affect parts of Central Kalimantan.

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

This morning, I travelled to Banjarbaru, about an hour by car from Banjarmasin. Compared with what I experienced last night in Banjarmasin, the air quality this morning in Banjarbaru felt significantly worse.

White haze was visible throughout much of the drive into the city, and the smell of smoke was strong enough to make breathing uncomfortable. Even while wearing a high-filtration mask, I could still detect the odor from recent fires.

Some residents I passed by on the streets were wearing masks, while others went about their day without them. Despite the haze, visibility remained relatively safe. During periods of dense smoke, visibility can deteriorate dramatically to no more than five to ten meters.

At around 6:30 local time, I visited the Guntung Payung area, where parts of a thin peatland tract owned by locals appeared to have burned recently. The ground was blackened, and white smoke continuously seeped from the surface, as if a fire were still smoldering beneath the soil.

Land and forest fires around Banjarbaru, the capital of South Kalimantan, have burned about 1,263 hectares (3,120 acres) over the past two months, with some of the worst damage occurring near the city's international airport and surrounding protected forest areas.

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter, in Singapore

Image source, Getty Images

As wildfires continue to rage on in neighbouring Indonesia, Singapore is nervously eyeing the level of air pollution.

Many still remember some of the worst episodes in 2013 and 2015, when the city was blanketed by a miasma for weeks. Schools had to shut, fast food chains stopped making deliveries, and there were shortages of N95 masks.

For the last few years Singapore has managed to avoid the haze thanks to Indonesia reining in some of the worst excesses of its annual wildfires. But this year warnings that the "super El Nino" would exacerbate the situation has once again put Singapore on edge.

The government and retailers have stockpiled N95 masks, and schools have made plans to minimise outdoor activities.

Even the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which is due to host hundreds of thousands of people downtown in early October, has come up with a contingency plan, including stocking up on masks and ensuring adequate medical assistance will be on standby.

Virma Simonette Rivera
Reporting from Manila

We now go to Palawan, an island province in the Philippines, located north of the Indonesian wildfires and south of Manila.

Dr Precious Bañas-Melad tells me that her husband and cousin have experienced itchy eyes, nose, and throat over the past few days.

“We are now experiencing mild headaches too. My cousin who isn’t allergic to anything started developing allergies. My husband is the first one who had itchy eyes, throat,” she says.

Last week, she observed haze in the skylines of Balabac town, but on Tuesday, it seemed "like the haze is now in front of us".

“On Sunday, there was a burnt smell. We unplugged our television, coffee maker, and other appliances thinking that the burnt smell was from those. But when we checked on the internet, it’s apparently the Indonesian forest fires.”

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

Image source, Getty Images

As over 50,000 people are hospitalised for respiratory infections in Indonesia, health alerts have also been raised in neighbouring countries where haze has been detected.

In Sarawak, Malaysia's side of Borneo Island, the Air Pollution Index (IPI) in several areas has been "unhealthy".

Authorities suspended face-to-face classes in Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman, and Betong, as day by day, the smoke from Kalimantan is getting thicker.

Sarawak resident Muhammad Fazli Bendaud says he is worried that the haze is "getting stronger."

Quinawaty Pasaribu
Reporting from Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan

I landed in Banjarmasin at 21:00 local time last night from Jakarta. At first, there was no obvious sign of haze along the road from Syamsudin Noor Airport. But about 3km from the airport, a thin layer of smoke haze became faintly visible, hanging over the streets.

According to IQAir, the air quality in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, last night was categorized as "unhealthy for sensitive groups." Locals told me that just a week earlier, dense haze had engulfed the airport area, forcing at least nine flights to be delayed. The smoke was caused by peatland fires located not far from the airport.

Despite the worsening air quality, schools remain open and classes continue as normal. No policies have been introduced to shift students to remote or online learning.The broader picture across Kalimantan shows the scale of the problem.

The highest number of hotspots has been detected in Central Kalimantan, with 8,572 hotspots. West Kalimantan ranks second with 7,617 hotspots, while South Kalimantan is third with 1,450 hotspots.

Here are scenes from Kalimantan, where some fires have been burning for weeks, blanketing the region and surrounding areas in thick haze.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, getty

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

For weeks, Indonesia has been battling wildfires that have left large swathes of the country choking in a toxic haze.

Millions of people in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island, have been exposed to the noxious air, with thousands of people already admitted to hospital with respiratory infections.

And haze from these spots has spread as far as neighbouring nations like Malaysia and the Philippines.

Today, we'll be bringing you updates from the ground on how the haze has disrupted daily life in some of South East Asia's largest and most densely populated regions - stay with us.