PM orders another crackdown on haze sources as hotspots rage across North
The prime minister has ordered yet another crackdown on sources of air pollution after satellite images showed more than 1,000 hotspot fires burning in Thailand on Saturday.
The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) said the Suomi NPP satellite detected 1,061 hotspots across the country.
However, the region’s worst offender was neighbouring Myanmar with 4,363 hotspots, followed by Laos with 2,868. Vietnam and Malaysia had just 647 and 32 hotspots, respectively.
The fires are blamed for emitting smoke that has blanketed large areas of Thailand including Chiang Mai and Bangkok in hazardous levels of PM2.5 haze over the past few weeks. PM2.5 refers to dust particles 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter that are linked with chronic diseases including lung and heart problems.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered local authorities to tighten enforcement of the no-burning rule, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said on Sunday. Prayut also instructed local authorities to increase screening for black smoke from vehicles, and air pollution from construction sites and factories.
The no-burning rule covers garbage, harvest stumps, vegetation, and burning of forest as part of foraging in areas suffering high air pollution levels, Anucha said.
Announced by the government’s Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation (CAPM) earlier this year, the rule prohibits open-air burning in all 17 northern provinces until April 30, except for Phitsanulok and Phetchabun, where the ban lasts until April 16.
The majority of hotspots in Thailand were in conserved forest areas (383), followed by national forests (278), agricultural areas (198), and communities (78).
The Pollution Control Department forecasts that PM2.5 levels in Bangkok and surrounding provinces will improve from Monday onwards as southerly winds disperse the haze.
However, it warned people in northern regions to beware of air pollution from neighbouring countries being carried into Thailand by winds on Wednesday and Thursday.
People can check for updates on air pollution via the websites Air4Thai.com and airbkk.com, or download the Air4Thai and AirBKK mobile applications.
