Pollution levels in Chiang Mai

[Luung]

Hi all, I've just sent this email to a pal of mine from another forum, but I thought that I'd best make all you lot aware of the current situation up here in Chiang Mai too.

The situation's pretty fuckin' drastic, but it's currently hardly getting any news coverage... I wonder why???

Obviously all names have been changed.

Hello Emitrude,

I don't know how flexible your schedule is, but I think that I ought to make you aware of the smog/pollution problems that we're having up here at the mo & advise you to put your trip back a bit if you can?

This is the crop burning season up here & in years gone by the government had tried to ban it, but I guess nowdays they just don't want to piss off the farmers (votes). At any rate, they should at least be posting travel warnings, but being Thai, obviously they ain't & they're burying their heads in the ground like ostriches, plus, if truth be known, they don't give a shit either!

Anyway, things are pretty dire right now with schools & building sites being closed, plus the general public are being told not to go out if they don't have to... And guess what, I can't even see the mountain from my house! In fact even the end of my Soi looks hazy!

I was hoping that this would have started to subside by now & that I wouldn't have to contact you, but the situation's actually getting worse. Even the hospitals have been ordered to give free medication to anyone suffering from breathing problems & eye irritation.

Just giving you a heads up, although I wish I'd have contacted you earlier, but we've all been optimistically hoping that this would have subsided by now.

Things are absolutely fuckin' awful up here right now mate, i can even taste the pollution in my mouth as I write this & believe me, if it wasn't for work I'd be in Patts or 'ANYWHERE ELSE' right now!

Anyway, Quintine's here tomorrow & he wants to go to Doi Inthanon... I think his trip's going to be fucked!

I'll keep you posted

Cuthbert

PS. this is from 'The Nation' newspaper

A researcher warned residents in the North yesterday to brace for worse air pollution, saying the smog problem was set to deteriorate.

"Local farmers will light more fires to clear land in forest zones for their upcoming farming season. There's lot of stuff to burn this year because the forestland last year was too damp for them to light fires," Chiang Mai University lecturer Dr Suthinee Dontree said.

Suthinee has conducted research on how to prevent forest fires in Chiang Mai under a project jointly supported by the university's Public Policy Studies Institute and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.

"I believe the smog situation this year will be as severe as that seen in 2007 and 2010," she said.

In those years, the amount of tiny dust particles known as PM10 was three times higher than what was considered safe. According to the Pollution Control Department (PCD), each cubic metre of air should contain no more than 120 micrograms of PM10 particles for safety reasons.

Suthinee said 40 per cent of land in Chiang Mai's nine districts was cleared by fire in those years. The districts were Mae Chaem, Hot, Chiang Dao, Om Koi, Chom Thong, Doi Tao, Fang, Mae Ai and Chai Prakan.

She said relevant authorities should tackle the smog problem by designating certain hours of the day for fires in each area to stop locals lighting fires at the same time and seriously worsening air quality.

"However, in the long run, locals should receive help to find other work. If they find something that can give |them more income than mobile farms, they will stop lighting fires in forest zones.

[DownLoLarry]

Thanks for the heads up Lung!

Which months are best to avoid in Chiang Mai?

[Luung]

Thanks for the heads up Lung!

Which months are best to avoid in Chiang Mai?

Larry, I’ve just lost a response that had taken me a fair while to put together... What the fucks happening! This thing just switched to conducting a poll & wiped out all my work... All I did was paste a YouTube link!? And it’s happened before, by the way.

Oh well, now for the quick version.

April & May are the main months to avoid, this is because it’s the Hot Season up here & the humidity build up is incredible, this is also the period when most expats choose to go home... Believe it or not the UK’s actually a better bet at this time of year.

The main factors that make it so oppressive at this time of year are the combination of low cloud owing to the altitude, combined with the fact that we are contained within a bowl of mountains which dosen’t allow for the air to circulate unless there are high winds, which we just don’t get at this time of year.

This is also the main factor for the pollution being so bad! BYW, The second half of February should definitely be avoided... And now it looks like the first half of March too!

With regard to the pollution this is a YouTube video which was emailed to me by a friend who is actually making a small documentary about this issue. It depicts 4 mins of the current situation filmed on the 8th March & 4 mins of what it can look like... Enjoy!

And here is an article from today’s ‘Nation’ newspaper. It’s absolutely fuckin’ criminal that the Taskin government doesn’t post travel warnings & that they are allowing this practice to go on after initially banning it after at first getting nowhere by first blaming the Burmese & Lao peoples!!! In fact they are now doing more of it... With impunity! And they're not even doing fuck all about what they call illegal burning either. Every morning I wake up to a sheet of ash covering my drive & I live right on top of Chiang Mai Univesity's Agriculural Centre!!!

High levels of a toxin contained in the harmful haze that is currently blanketing nine upper northern provinces have been found in the urine of people who live near areas where burning and forestfires are common.

Chiang Mai University's Research Institute for Health and Science studied the health impact of haze in the upper northern provinces on residents during the past three years. It found that atmospheric levels of small particles caused by forest and bush fires in areas outside towns were two to three times higher than those in urban areas, depending on weather conditions.

A senior researcher on pollution and environmental health, Tippawan Prapamonton, said her team of researchers collected urine samples from both adults and children living in urban areas and those outside urban areas in the upper north.

They found that the level of PAH, a widespread pollutant released during the burning of gasoline, oil, charcoal and garbage, was 13 times higher in urine samples collected in nonurban areas than in samples from urban areas.

Meanwhile, the number of children suffering from respiratory disease has increased drastically, Tippawan said.

"We have handed our findings to the Chiang Mai governor for use in resolving the health problems due to haze and pollution," she said.

Chiang Mai authorities plan to install devices to monitor smoke and smallparticle levels in eight provinces in the Upper North in a bid to resolve the haze problem in the long term.

However, atmospheric levels of fineparticle dust, or PM 10, in Chiang Rai province's Mae Sai district were measured at 384 micrograms per cubic metre, which is above safe levels.

About 150 people per day reported suffering from respiratory diseases. About 300,000 masks have been sent to the nine upper North provinces to prevent further health risks.

Lamphun governor Surachai Khanarsa said he would strictly enforce the law and mete out strong punishment to those who illegally burn bush and forestland.

Many tourist groups have cancelled their plans to visit attractions in the North, especially in Mae Sai district, due to the haze situation, affecting local businesses including restaurants and hotels.

[KendoUK]

beautiful and amazing video...well the back 4 minutes anyway.

[Luung]

beautiful and amazing video...well the back 4 minutes anyway.

Yeah, that's what I thought ... Anyway, thanks for replying, no other cunt seems to want to. :fpc:

[TEXASMAC]

Pollution levels? I was at PBG having a bowl of Tomato soup and a Tuna sandwhich when it started to rain. This was the nastiest and smelliest thing I have seen since I moved from Detroit.