© Antara Foto / Reuters
A series of forest fires followed by a devastating smog outbreak in Southeast Asia last year may have led to as many as
100,000 premature deaths, a new study has shown.
The numbers are tens of thousands of times higher than those officially declared by authorities.
The haze in Southeast Asia which lasted for several months last year resulted in some 91,600 deaths in Indonesia, 6,500 in Malaysia and 2,200 in Singapore, scientists from Harvard and Columbia Universities said in a new study
published in the journal
Environmental Research Letters on Monday.
During the study scientists used satellite data and computer modeling to estimate the potential number of deaths. The results showed that the smog had a capacity of killing somewhere between 26,300 and 174,300 people, meaning 100,300 was the average.
"We estimate that haze in 2015 resulted in 100,300 excess deaths across Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, more than double those of the 2006 event, with much of the increase due to fires in Indonesia's South Sumatra Province," scientists said.
Comment: Since the NYPD can't seem to properly track the seizures, it shows a vulnerability in the system that can be abused.