Thick Haze Blankets Palembang, Air Quality Reaches Hazardous Level

Thick haze blanketed several areas of Palembang, South Sumatra, on Sunday (23/8/2026). The conditions occurred amid the expanding spread of smoke from forest and land fires in a number of regions in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Based on monitoring of the Himawari-9 satellite by BMKG on Sunday (23/8) at 10.00 WIB, smoke distribution was detected in South Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Maluku, West Papua, Central Papua, and South Papua. In Palembang, visibility in the morning was reported to be less than 50 metres, while air quality at night and in the morning was in the hazardous category.