Indonesian province declares emergency due to haze

Indonesia's Riau province declared a state of emergency on Thursday as haze from raging forest fires, often deliberately set, disrupted flights and marine navigation and authorities reported a sharp rise in respiratory problems. The national disaster mitigation agency said the province of 5 million, a major palm oil growing region, had been experiencing haze for several weeks due to illegal land clearing and prolonged dry weather. "According to the data we have, the fires have gotten worse and need to be extinguished with water-bombing planes and we are ready to do that," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the disaster mitigation agency, said in a text message.



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