Haze triggers highest-level alert in Southeast Asia

Fires in Indonesia that have sent toxic smoke and disrupted daily life across Southeast Asia have triggered the highest-level alert by the regional bloc’s meteorological monitor.

The months-long pollution spell has closed schools, fueled a surge in respiratory conditions and restricted outdoor activities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and East Timor.

“This thing needs to stop,” Zul Hafiz, a 39-year-old teacher cycling from the Malaysian city of Shah Alam to the capital, told AFP on Saturday, calling on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to take action.

The 11-country organization’s Asean Specialized Meteorological Centre (ASMC) said in a notice on its website on Friday that it had activated “Alert Level 3 for the Southern Asean region” — the highest rung of a four-tiered alert system.

The alert level is triggered when there is a “high risk of severe transboundary haze in the region” and is reserved for widespread moderate to dense smoke haze, observed over two or more consecutive days.