In the Strait of Malacca, separating Malaysia and Indonesia, two freighters collided in thick smog this week, and on Wednesday Indonesian authorities admitted that two people had died because of the haze. In Malaysia, more than 5,000 have been hospitalized with respiratory complaints. The Malaysian Haze Committee has been lobbying neighboring countries, mainly Indonesia, to create volunteer firefighting brigades in remote areas and lookout posts to report signs of fires in forests. Surveys by various Asian industrial groups found the fires have caused billions of dollars in damage to high-tech production, the timber and tourism industries. Cash crops are dying or suffer stymied growth because the haze has blocked sunlight.
Weather forecasts offer little hope.
Meteorologists predict monsoons in November will not be sufficient to extinguish the fires and might not occur.