STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Annual wildfires in Indonesia blanket parts of that country with thick and toxic smoke. This year, the crisis is especially severe. Naina Rao reports from Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.
NAINA RAO, BYLINE: Nida Hanum (ph) is a school librarian in Indonesian Borneo. She says the smoke outside her home left her barely able to speak.
NIDA HANUM: (Through interpreter) I've had shortness of breath so severe that even talking was painful. My eyes watered, my head felt like it was being stabbed and my whole body ached.
RAO: Indonesia sees wildfires every year, but government officials say this year is particularly bad because of dry conditions brought on by El Nino. From January to August, the Forestry Ministry says about half a million acres have burned. Much of what's burning is peat, a carbon-rich soil drained for plantations to produce palm oil and pulpwood. Fires on dry peatland can smolder underground for months.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: (Non-English language spoken).
RAO: This recording shared by the Indonesian Disaster Management Agency featured a firefighter sharing how high winds are making it difficult to fight the fires at night as a wildfire tore through a hiking trail. Two Indonesian volunteer firefighters have died. Investigators believe these fires are mostly human-caused. Police have named more than 100 suspects, nearly all individual farmers. Peatlands are a common target for arson so that they can be cleared to produce palm oil and pulp wood. Senior police official Pipit Subiyanto says investigators need help.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PIPIT SUBIYANTO: (Non-English language spoken).
RAO: He says they need information and testimony from local communities to find out what caused the fires and who, if anyone, is responsible. Francis Cafita (ph) lectures at a university in Indonesian Borneo. She worries the damage to her and people's lungs will outlast the smoke and that Indonesians have come to expect this every year.
FRANCIS CAFITA: (Non-English language spoken).
RAO: She says, make sure this doesn't happen again. For NPR News, I'm Naina Rao in Jakarta, Indonesia.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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