JAKARTA — Michael’s 20-month-old daughter began coughing and had shortness of breath in early October, as thick haze from wildfires blanketed Balikpapan, the capital of Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province. He and his wife took the toddler to a private hospital, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia. An X-ray showed…

Peat fires are burning across the country, smothering one of the world's most populated countries in smoke.

Right now, people in parts of Indonesia are inhaling what may be the most polluted atmosphere on Earth. As the historically large 2026 El Niño intensifies, parts of south east Asia have been plunged into an air quality crisis of catastrophic proportions. Smoke from fires has driven concentrations of dangerous and tiny…