1997 Indonesian forest fires

In 1997, forest fires in Indonesia spread thick smoke to Malaysia and Singapore. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad sent Malaysian firefighters to Indonesia to help,New Straits Times - Nov 8, 1997 calling it Operation Haze. This aimed to reduce the impact on Malaysia's economy, which lost an estimated 0.30% of its GDP due to the haze.Indonesia's Fires and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe  By David Glover, Timothy Jessup, page 46

Seasonal rains in December briefly stopped the fires, but they returned soon after. By early 1998, countries like Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka were also affected by the smoke. By the end, 8 million hectares of land had burned, and millions of people suffered from air pollution.

References

Category:1997 in Asia
Category:20th century in Indonesia
Category:Fires in Asia
Category:20th century in Singapore
Category:1998 in Asia