Timor-Leste Closes Schools as Indonesia Fires Spread Haze — SkimNews
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- Timor-Leste began a three-day school closure on Thursday (Oct 15) prompted by thick haze drifting from Indonesian forest fires, with the government citing the need "to protect the health of students, teachers and other members of the educational community" and urging families to keep children indoors.
- Indonesia's fires have burned through hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest and plantations in Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua, sending air pollution surging not only locally but also into Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste.
- This year's blazes are unusually severe because a strong El Niño has brought drought during Indonesia's dry season, intensifying the recurring annual fire crisis.
- Dili residents described the pollution as even worse earlier in the week — 30-year-old midwife Sonya da Costa Soares told AFP "we can't see the sun, the pollution is heavy" — though many were still out under a yellow-tinged sky wearing masks on Thursday.
- St Ignatius Loyola College student Vitaliano da Costa Calapes, 18, said students are continuing to study at home for upcoming final exams, hoping "in the coming days there will be no pollution and school will return to normal."
Why it matters: The closure affects students across an entire nation for three days over air pollution generated hundreds of kilometers away in Indonesia, where El Niño-amplified fires are now disrupting education and daily life in at least five Southeast Asian countries simultaneously.
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