PONTIANAK — Struggling to breathe through the acrid haze emanating from wildfires on Indonesia’s Borneo island, residents told AFP today they feared for their health but had little to do but wait out the foul-smelling hazard.

Indonesia, which shares Borneo with Malaysia and Brunei, is grappling with forest fires that have ravaged swathes of the island, partly caused by the El Nino climate phenomenon that has also affected other countries in South-east Asia and beyond.

In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, the thick, yellow smoke was so intense that it had paralysed the international airport over the weekend.

“My eyes sting, my head hurts. Over the past week it’s been getting worse,” resident Anggita Putri told AFP.

“While working, my chest feels tight, my head dizzy, my eyes burning. Even with this unhealthy air, we still must work,” she said.

The air quality index for Pontianak briefly exceeded 1,100 over the weekend, Anggita said — nearly four times the hazardous limit.

“I leave my child at home, so of course I have worries that go beyond just my own health. I’m also concerned about my child’s condition,” said the 28-year-old, who has a three-year-old son.

Another Pontianak resident, 35-year-old university lecturer Djunita Permata Indah, also said she was concerned for her two children, aged two and four.

“The situation is quite bad. I’m worried about the children’s health. Even as an adult, I feel my head aching and dizzy because of the smoky air,” she told AFP.

“But parents still must work, so the children are forced to keep going to daycare, where they remain exposed to the smoke that has already started to enter the house.”

The health ministry said last week that more than 113,000 cases of upper respiratory tract infections had been recorded across seven provinces since the fires began to rage early this year.

Brief rainfall yesterday, which some residents had hoped could alleviate the risk, did little to help and only intensified the thick smoke, Djunita said.