Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

General chat about life in the Land Of Smiles. Discuss expat life, relationship issues and all things generally Thailand and Asia related.
Post Reply
User avatar
Dannie Boy
Hero
Hero
Posts: 12868
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:12 pm
Location: Closer to Cha Am than Hua Hin

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Dannie Boy »

Glad to hear that some people have different priorities in life!!
User avatar
Ratsima
Ace
Ace
Posts: 1275
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:53 am
Location: โคราช

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Ratsima »

:cheers:
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 23203
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by buksida »

Smog drives away Thailand’s tourists as Laos, Myanmar farmers grow cash crops for China
For weeks now, a thick smog carrying harmful particles that routinely reach beyond the hazardous limit has greeted arrivals at Chiang Mai airport, with images of the wheeze-inducing smoke shared across social media.

The pollution has stubbornly stayed, but the tourists have not, with bookings for what was Thailand’s second-most visited city before the pandemic having fallen off a cliff. On Friday, Chiang Mai’s governor asked people to stay home as wildfires ripped through hillsides near the city, sending air quality plummeting once more.

“The smog is everywhere,” said Gade Grey, owner of Elliebum Boutique Hotel in the northern city, whose temples, old ruins, art, markets and slow-paced charm drew an estimated 4 million overseas visitors in 2019 – many of them from China.

“Customers have been calling to cancel their stays. It gets worse each year.”

The hotel cancellations are a bitter, cruel blow to northern Thailand’s Covid-battered economy, which has been recovering at a slower pace due to China’s delayed reopening to the world.

Thailand blames neighbouring Myanmar and Laos for the smog, as their poor farming communities use slash-and-burn farming to prepare land for growing season.

But critics say it is just as much a home-grown problem, as local farmers also burn their fields to grow maize, while successive Thai governments have failed to enact tough laws on air quality.

More than 2 million people have been hospitalised with breathing problems this year, according to the authorities, and particulate-matter levels – known as PM 2.5 – are often among the worst in the world at this time of year.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-e ... rops-china
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
User avatar
Ratsima
Ace
Ace
Posts: 1275
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:53 am
Location: โคราช

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Ratsima »

fire.jpg
fire.jpg (64.04 KiB) Viewed 21778 times
.
Home grown, indeed. This at a wat not far from my home in Korat. The entire grounds of the wat had fires like this. The monk was furiously sucking on a cigarette as he supervised the burn.
User avatar
buksida
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 23203
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 12:25 pm
Location: south of sanity

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by buksida »

Right, Thailand is always very quick to blame others before looking in the mirror. The larger agri-corporations pay the government to allow them to burn and the smaller local farmers don't care because it is not policed.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
User avatar
Nereus
Hero
Hero
Posts: 11020
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 3:01 pm
Location: Camped by a Billabong

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Nereus »

Smog drives away Thailand’s tourists as Laos, Myanmar farmers grow cash crops for China
Good to poke a stick at Myanmar, but the prevailng winds during the dry season are from the North East.
Most of the pollution that is not locally produced comes from Cambodia, Laos and even Vietnam.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Motyduke
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:11 am

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Motyduke »

Air Quality is bad again in Hua Hin. Over 160.
Some fires in Pranburi hills again. It seems that it is really worse than years before and last really longer. Many focus on Chiang Mai and north but it is almost all the country who has bad air. On tv, a thai cardiologist say that living in this kind of air remove 4 years of life expectancy.

I start to be really concerned ( sore throat, red eye and coughing) and think to move from here. Don't know yet but feel i cannot stay without doing nothing, if it last.
User avatar
Ratsima
Ace
Ace
Posts: 1275
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:53 am
Location: โคราช

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Ratsima »

chaammtn2.jpg
chaammtn2.jpg (36.13 KiB) Viewed 21672 times
Looking north from Thew Talay World in Cha Am (near the Shell station).

On a clear day one could easily see Khao Yai and the cement plant that sits at its southern tip. The obscured buildings (Lumpini Condo and Grand Pacific) are only a few kilometers away.
User avatar
STEVE G
Hero
Hero
Posts: 13211
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:50 am
Location: HUA HIN/EUROPE

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by STEVE G »

This article goes a small way towards explaing the links between the government and business tycoons in Thailand and why nothing gets done about air quality:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/1 ... luted-city
User avatar
Ratsima
Ace
Ace
Posts: 1275
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:53 am
Location: โคราช

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Ratsima »

Oh, no! You mean it’s all about the 💰?
hhinner
Rock Star
Rock Star
Posts: 4480
Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:17 pm

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by hhinner »

Not even an election issue. But what political party wants to risk upsetting its donors?
bigston
Guru
Guru
Posts: 511
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:16 am

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by bigston »

One of the drawcards to buying the land plot where we are, was "the views "
Last year Jan - April,many glorious sunsets over the mountain ranges to the west and quite often crisp clear views of one of the big peaks down at Sam Roi Yot, not that far away
This year, ive seen the outline of the mountains a few times, and Sam Roi Yot clear and clean Nought Times
today i can just barely see the outline.
what a difference a year makes
Currently AQI 177. PM 2.5 112 with a stiff Southerly / SE Breeze
YUK...
User avatar
caller
Hero
Hero
Posts: 11412
Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 6:05 pm
Location: Hua Hin

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by caller »

We drove from Khon Kaen to Bkk earlier. A long drive and from one end to the other, the air quality was visibly shocking. I checked 'your location' readings throughout and ozone was usually the worst offender, followed by PM2.5, which ranged from 150 upto 164. It was a truly depressing experience. Special mention to Wang Noi for the highest PM2.5 reading.
Talk is cheap
User avatar
STEVE G
Hero
Hero
Posts: 13211
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:50 am
Location: HUA HIN/EUROPE

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by STEVE G »

Yes, I've spent the best part of twenty years planning a retirement in Thailand but I'm beginning to wonder how much I want to breathe that junk.
Motyduke
Specialist
Specialist
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:11 am

Re: Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

Post by Motyduke »

STEVE G wrote: Sun Apr 16, 2023 3:50 am Yes, I've spent the best part of twenty years planning a retirement in Thailand but I'm beginning to wonder how much I want to breathe that junk.
Yes, when it was some weeks in the year, it was acceptable....But this year HH has bad air stuation ince the beginning of january, and i still not see no improving at all. i have canceled many bicycle training in the last months, cannot enjoy outdoor actvities and even don't want to relax at the beach. For me, the next months will be crucial to decide to stay here or to move somewhere else.
Post Reply