Indonesia considers declaring national emergency over forest fires

Jakarta

INDONESIA is considering declaring a national emergency over fires that have been smouldering across the archipelago for weeks, sending haze drifting across much of South-east Asia, the vice president said on Tuesday.

The government would intensify efforts to contain the fires that have caused pollution levels across the region to spike to unhealthy levels, and forced school closures and flight cancellations, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said. "The problem is too big," Mr Kalla said in an interview at his office in Jakarta. "We are now considering to," he said, referring to a declaration of an emergency,…