Smog outbreak! Indonesia haze may cause 100k premature deaths

New Delhi: A thick, toxic haze from the man-made forest fire of Indonesia that suffocated the entire region of Southeast Asia for several weeks last year may have caused more than 100,000 premature deaths in the country.

The neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore have also fallen prey to this disastrous smog outbreak. As per the study conducted by scientists of Harvard University and Columbia University, 90% of the total deaths are from Indonesia, with the rest in Malaysia and Singapore.

The study to be published in the journal Environmental Research Letters is being welcomed by other researchers and Indonesia's medical profession as an advance in quantifying the suspected serious public health effects of the fires, which are set to clear land for agriculture and forestry, according to the Associated Press.

The research analyzed the effect of PM 2.5, the particulate matter that makes up smog and causes respiratory illness. The study claims that last years forest fire was worst since 1997.