In 2013 the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra made a special effort to curb the annual smoke haze problem which affects thousands of northern Thai residents and visitors during March and April.
The campaign headed by Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop failed to improve the situation despite a 90 day fire ban, which was mostly ignored. This year the same ban is in place, the same ineffectual fire break strategy is in place, the bans are ignored and the only difference appears to be the absence of political leadership, with ineffectual activities being coordinated by civil servants.
Fine particulate pollution PM10 has been above the government designated 120 microgrammes per cubic metre (ug/m3) danger level at the Lampang, Phrae, Payao and Nan monitoring stations, that is in all provinces to the East of Chiang Mai for several days as of 9th March.
Last year pollution levels peaked in Lampang before Chiang Mai where the reading at the Mae Rim government centre was 90 (ug/m3) Sunday. Mae Hong Son, which in most years records the highest PM10 readings remains healthier at present.
As we did last year, we advise the evacuation of children from polluted areas, but regret that the government has announced no plan to protect children’s health during the current emergency.
Well-written and to the point. Actually, in a country with no free speech, I am surprised that they permit
you to say these things at all. I wonder if this site would be shut down if all this were being said in Thai.
Funny thing: The website http://aqicn.org/city/thailand/chiangmai/city-hall/ says that today, Monday,
March 10, 2014, at 8:00 AM, the PM10 is 73. The website http://aqmthai.com/ says that at the same
exact time and place the level is 100. As with so many things here in Thailand, one must conclude that
either someone is lying or someone is very stupid, too stupid to even get their lies straight. So, what is
a person to believe? I notice that with the aqicn.org site, whenever the PM10 starts to get high, they often
have “no data,” as if that is going to somehow inspire confidence that the pollution is not so bad.
During the months of the year when pollution is not a big issue, after the rainy season and in the winter,
the air filter (filtrete filters from Makro) in my home will only turn black after several weeks of having
the air run through them. At this time of year I have to replace the filter every six days or so, and as the
PM10 levels go over 100, every three or four days. At the horrendous times when the PM10 goes over
200, the filter turns black in less than two days. Perhaps this is a better measure of what is going on
than their unreliable numbers. I wonder why they have these air quality websites at all. The government
is obviously not going to do anything about the problem. I suppose it gives bureaucrats and nepotists a
cushy job.
You might logically ask why I stay here if I think things are so bad. For several reasons I am stuck here,
but for a younger person without family commitments, I think there are many better places. In Patzcuaro, Mexico you can walk all over town and around the pretty plaza and not be constantly
threatened by cars and motorcycles. They actually have sidewalks that people walk on, and the air is
breathable. This is true of many high-altitude cities in Mexico: Oaxaca and Aguascalientes are particu-
larly nice. You never need air-conditioning or heat in your home.
I just noticed that the site that gives the lower readings of PM10 is the one presented to us in English
when you do a google search for pollution in Chiang Mai. http://aqmthai.com/ is not to be found, even
after scrolling through four pages of the google results. I suppose that http://aqmthai.com/ is not supposed
to be seen by foreigners.
The new aqmthai.com website has little text in English apart from technical names for pollutants and Romanised Thai place names, which is apreetty good way to keep it off the Google radar.
The history will repeat itself again this year. The root of the problem is the planted corn
for animal feed all over the north and neighboring countries. We can’t do anything just
pray for the mercy of mother nature. Rain and rain is the only thing we could hope not the government.
Sorry to disagree Dr Prasak. Corn is a part of the problem , but only rather minor. For example in Phrae on the road to Nan much corn (maize ) is grown. On a side road to the Huai Rong Waterfall there is a huge and growing pile of corn residue where the cobs are cleaned. Last year this was not burnt and a week ago the pile was still unburnt and growing. Most of the smoke is from forest burning which is widespread and very common all across the north. History will repeat itself because the government ignores pleas to engage with country people to persuade them of the problems of fire and smoke. Roadside signs put up every year are ignored and government spending on fire breaks money wasted. If the government were to talk face to face with farmers and send officers to the forest to deter and apprehend arsonists we would have reason to hope. In the north we should be demanding the Red shirts take up this issue and as Thaksin has asked them to help the government get it right.
Having lived in Hong Kong for many years – which itself has awful pollution problems, I simply don’t buy the pollution level reading of 120 – it’s just not feasible. When the air looked like this in HK, the reading was always over 200. Also, the government would issue warnings about the elderly, not exercising outside etc. But again, the HK government always blamed China – despite the fact that at least 50% was locally generated vehicular pollution. Similarly Thailand blames Burma – just have to walk outside my moobaan to see where smoke is being generated. How do we find out ACTUAL readings – or is this asking too much? Maureen O’Brien
Yes, I am afraid that getting the ACTUAL readings from the local authorities is too much too ask.
I have requested of the U.S. Consulate here in C.M. to measure the air quality and give us reliable
readings, but have not received a response from them. Perhaps the Consulate of another nation
might be more responsive to its citizens. The sad truth is that all governments lie to their people,
and to expect any less from the Thais is not realistic. This morning – March 25, 2014 – the only
reading available on either air quality website is 19 at the Yupparaj School at 0700, which is so
obviously low as to be insulting.
Hi Ricky,
There is work going on in two places I know of to make a burning machine that will burn the dry biomass cleanly, that is to say with no unburnt particles escaping into the air. I enclose a video of the first prototype. It is not perfected yet, but it is relatively cheap to make. Biochar is also a byproduct that farmers can use to make an organic fertiliser.
The video shows somewhere in the region of 200 cubic feet of dry biomass being burnt, but how do I attach it to this comment. Dunno!
Cheers,
Stuart