Asia & Pacific
Tourists look at the skyline on Aug. 12 in Kuala Lumpur, as the city lies shrouded in haze from wildfires in Borneo. (Reuters/Hasnoor Hussain)
Indonesia has seen an alarming surge in land and forest fires over the past month, with thick haze from burning in Kalimantan reaching neighboring Malaysia and prompting authorities there to close more than 100 schools.Around 182,000 hectares of land and forest were burned in July alone, nearly twice the total area burned during the first half of the year, according to forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas.
The total area burned this year has reached 285,000 hectares, roughly the size of three Jakartas, with most hotspots recorded in West Kalimantan, South Papua, East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.
The fires have sent haze across the border into Malaysia, where thick smog has blanketed parts of Sarawak since Aug. 8, The Star reported.
