A forest fire on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, fuelled by the El Niño weather phenomenon, has razed nearly 300 homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. An official confirmed the destruction on Tuesday as Indonesia continues to battle widespread blazes and haze.
Residents in Bangka Belitung province first saw the fire approaching their village on Saturday and attempted to extinguish it with portable water pumps, according to Riza Herdavid, head of South Bangka regency. However, the fire, which was in peatland, continued to smoulder underground. A shift in wind direction subsequently drove the blaze rapidly towards the settlement.
The local disaster agency reported that nearly 1,000 people had fled the village. Survivors described homes, many made of wood, being torn through by strong winds and flames, leaving them with no belongings.
The village was reportedly built on what was previously peatland in a protected area, converted into a housing complex last year. While wildfires are common in Indonesia during the dry season, this year's blazes are more intense due to El Niño, which is predicted to be one of the strongest in 40 years. Experts also attribute the intensity to slash-and-burn land clearances.
The fires have caused severe local haze, leading to tens of thousands of respiratory illness cases and air pollution spikes in Singapore and Malaysia. Indonesia's president, Prabowo Subianto, on Monday ordered maximum efforts to extinguish the wildfires, which have been ongoing for three months in some areas. The government has deployed over 60,000 personnel on the ground.