Indonesia: Indonesian housewife Mimi Marlina rode a motorbike through thickening haze blanketing the city of Pontianak on Borneo island, making a foray to buy groceries and supplies as the Southeast Asian nation battles raging forest fires.
"We can still hold it off with medicines, but I'm concerned that if this persists, it will lead to worse illnesses," said the masked 45-year-old mother of two children battling respiratory problems, from coughing and sore throats to fever.
The province of West Kalimantan on Borneo, home to Pontianak, is one of the areas worst hit by Indonesia's most intense wildfires in 11 years as 'super-El Niño' weather conditions drive up temperatures and cause punishing droughts.
Despite wearing a mask, Mimi said she herself was labouring for breath amid the widespread haze and pollution spikes, which often push air quality to hazardous levels.
The air has also turned unhealthy in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia because of the transboundary smog, often called haze in Southeast Asia's humid weather, from a mix of smoke from clearing land for farming, soot, and tiny suspended particles.
"Visits to this clinic for respiratory illness cases are on the rise due to the fires," said Popong Solihat, head of a public health clinic in Pontianak.
More than 12.5 million people have been exposed to haze caused by fires across seven provinces on Indonesia's islands of Borneo and Sumatra, health ministry data show.
The number of people battling wildfire-related respiratory illnesses in those provinces has more than doubled to 113,336 by September 9, compared with 50,891 on September 1.
In the first 11 days of September, Solihat's clinic treated 187 cases of breathing difficulties, compared with 422 for all of August. "And the daily visits now could range between 80 and 120 cases," she added.
Indonesia's emissions of 19.7 million metric tons during the week to September 7 made up more than a third of the global total, according to the Fire Emissions Watch portal of the European Union's Copernicus climate monitoring service.
From January to July this year, fires raged across 202,000 hectares (almost 500,000 acres) of land, government data showed. Environmental group YKAN has estimated that fire damaged 600,000 hectares (1.4 million acres) more in August.
Meanwhile, water shortages have added to Mimi's daily burden. With no rain and saltwater tainting local supplies, she spends hours hunting for clean drinking water, queuing for gallons wherever she can find them.
She keeps her children indoors now, sweeping ash and soot from the porch each morning, small acts of protection that do little to shield her own body from the smoke.
"My breaths are uneven," she said. "Maybe because I'm inhaling this smoke, the air is so bad."
