Thailand: Haze crisis in the South improving

The Nation 26 Oct 15;

The haze crisis in southern Thailand continued to improve on Sunday but people have been urged not to do anything that might worsen it.

The director of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, Chatchai Promlert, said the amount of particulate matter (PM) of the air in southern Thailand had decreased to a range of 58-87 micrograms per cubic metre of air.

Chatchai said the main reason for this might be rains and a northeast wind change.

The Pollution Control Department's PM statistics on Sunday showed that the amount of PM10 had fallen in many provinces.

Songkhla recorded PM10 of 87 micrograms; Phuket recorded PM10 of 81 micrograms; Phang Nga 77 micrograms; Satun 60 micrograms; Pattani 59 micrograms; and Narathiwat 58 micrograms.

The safe standard is 120 micrograms.

Relevant authorities in the South have been ordered control any burn activities and using machines to spray water into the air.

Anuchit Trakulmututa, the head of the Songkhla Prevention and Solution of Haze Air Pollution Centre, on Sunday said the centre would be temporally closed due to the haze level in the area getting better by the average of 87 micrograms in 24 hours.

Anuchit added that 340,000 protective masks were handed to people in the area and two flights were used to make artificial rain in a bid to help alleviate the haze.