Pollution continues to affect Bangkok, nearby provinces

[webfact]

Pollution continues to affect Bangkok, nearby provinces

By The Nation

 

 

Bangkok and the surrounding provinces remained blanketed with dust on Tuesday morning, with a red zone reported in Saraburi province, north of Bangkok, according to the Pollution Control Department’s Thailand’s air quality and situation update. 

 

Several areas in the greater Bangkok area were still covered in a fine dust of PM2.5 particulate with larger dust particles caused by emissions from vehicles as well as industrial and construction activities adding to the misery of residents.

 

 

The air quality index was orange in more than 30 zones including Sathorn, the business district of Bangkok, which had an air quality index (AQI) of 147, and Charoen Krung Road with an AQI of 170.

 

Orange indicates unhealthy air that will start to affect people’s health.

 

  

Chaloem Prakiat in Saraburi, meanwhile, moved into a hazardous red, meaning very unhealthy air. The orange alert stands for an AQI 101-200 while red signifies 200 and up. 

 

A weaker high pressure over China and still air have attributed to concentration of small particulate, according to the department.

 

People are advised to avoid outdoor activities and many have started to wear masks again. The spike in pollution last year led to a shortage of shortage of masks preventing inhalation of PM2.5 and a boom in the sale of the air purifying products.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30376920

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-10-01

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[justin case]

this will pull in more tourists, right

[Assurancetourix]

22 minutes ago, justin case said:

this will pull in more tourists, right

Will soon write the TAT   

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The spike in pollution last year led to a shortage of shortage of masks preventing inhalation of PM2.5 and a boom in the sale of the air purifying products.

 

Wherever there's a buck to be made....

 

Even though oftentimes here, the things being pitched or sold don't actually work!

 

Quote

 

A GIANT air purifier, called the Green Giant, was installed at Chiang Mai’s Tha Pae Gate yesterday and appeared to be efficient in reducing the amount of fine dust particles in the air in a 3-kilometre radius.

...

Costing about Bt500,000, it is believed the Green Giant can reduce the amount of dust particles in the air by half. 

 

 

Right up there with the molasses spraying drones...

 

 

 

 

 

[Hayduke]

45 minutes ago, justin case said:

this will pull in more tourists, right

 

Absolutely. Obviously a clever ploy by the TAT. This news will certainly draw millions of additional Chinese tourists…who much prefer, thick, granular, and robust air like they have at home.

 

 

[ttrd]

59 minutes ago, justin case said:

this will pull in more tourists, right

We may assume that the next creative input from TAT may be discounted dust masks at arrival for regular tourists and free for V.I.P. travelers ... 

[hotchilli]

I wonder how the illustrious ministers will explain this away without any crop burning going on ?

[kevin612]

I think I need a mask ???? 

[ttrd]

55 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

I wonder how the illustrious ministers will explain this away without any crop burning going on ?

 

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Wherever there's a buck to be made....

 

Even though oftentimes here, the things being pitched or sold don't actually work!

 

 

Right up there with the molasses spraying drones...

 

 

 

 

 

.... is this what we can call breathtaking or simply taking your breath away .. ? ..????

Edited October 1, 2019 by ttrd

[khunpa]

Nothing more fun than to have to stay indoor and wear masks when on holiday.

 

Now I understand why the goal is more India and China tourists. Its just like home away from home.

 

Billions will be coming..

Edited October 1, 2019 by khunpa

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 minutes ago, khunpa said:

Nothing more fun than to have to stay indoor and wear masks when on holiday.

 

 

Somebody should design a PM2.5 "beer mask" that would enable the tourist to sip their beer thru a special one-way straw valve while still keeping the air pollution at bay....

 

Would make a killing!!!   

[CygnusX1]

Looks a lot better now, some light breezes have helped.

[tingtongtourist]

18 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Somebody should design a PM2.5 "beer mask" that would enable the tourist to sip their beer thru a special one-way straw valve while still keeping the air pollution at bay....

 

Would make a killing!!!   

 

[tingtongtourist]

Just now, tingtongtourist said:

 

Can they pump oxygen into beer?

Maybe better for you this way..

can wear a special beer snorkel and drink 24x7 without worry about breathing.

[MaxLee]

1 hour ago, kevin612 said:

I think I need a mask ???? 

Wrong, you need a dozen of masks

Edited October 1, 2019 by MaxLee

[Jimbo in Thailand]

Hmmm... this gives new meaning to the term 'all inclusive' Chinese tours!  ????????????????

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Jimbo in Thailand

[Jimbo2014]

5 hours ago, justin case said:

this will pull in more tourists, right

It most certainly will.  The whole world will flock to see the most polluted country in the world.  They will organise tours of plastic dumps and promote games like hide and seek in the smog.  There will be a whole industry built around it.  TAT need to position themselves now. 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Jimbo2014

[Elkski]

What is a good room filter  to buy? Where to buy?  How much.  Near  Thonglor would be nice.    I think this news would erase millions  in tourist advertising baht.   And hard to recover from.   How many cancellations will there be? This news just before High season is not good.  PS . you cannot see PM 2.5 so you cannot judge this by the visual quality of the air.  

P 95 MASKS From USA  to big for thai women 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Elkski

[thaibeachlovers]

Surprise, surprise, surprise, NOT.

 

Perhaps the minister for brilliant ideas will expand on his clever use of moored boats with propellers going to clear floods to have all the air force planes sitting on the shore line with engines going to blow away the smog.

[newnative]

Get out the water hoses.

[LetsCleanUpTHAILAND]

On 10/1/2019 at 10:02 AM, webfact said:

The spike in pollution last year led to a shortage of shortage of masks

And the spike in burning discarded masks (thailand's primary go-to waste manaagement method) lead to increase spikes in pollution which related to a higher shortages of masks. 

 

Living in Thailand is like living in a beautiful house with no bathroom or trash can/rubbish bin. There's trash and <deleted> everywhere. Gotta <deleted>? Find a wall. Where to throw away your wrapper? On the floor. Don't be serious na! You think too much. This is Thailand. It all good na. Be happy. 

[LetsCleanUpTHAILAND]

On 10/1/2019 at 10:02 AM, webfact said:

Several areas in the greater Bangkok area were still covered in a fine dust of PM2.5 particulate

POLLUTION MASK BUYING GUIDE

• ALL masks on asian shopping websites (i.e. Lazada and Shoppee) are asian-sized and, thus, TOO SMALL FOR FARANG FACES. Trust me, I found out the expensive way. haha
• I highly recommend buying RESPRO (U.K. brand) or the cheaper RZ (USA designed, made in China). They protect against 99% of PM2.5 and you can use them for 60 hours before spending 700-900THB on a new filter. 
  • Considering that Public Hospitals have a double price system now (as of Oct 30) and considering that Prayut and Trump are friends which is probably why Thailand is adopting the USA's expensive and life-threatening privatized health care system, spending more money on a mask is going to save you countless thousands on money on hospital bills for respiratory and other related diseases. The best insurance is preventative - i.e. Respro or RZ mask. 
  • BUY RESPRO or RZ on ebay. I did (both) and there was NOT any duty or tax. You only pay for shipping and cost of product. 
• Car! The air outside is toxic. Well, that air is trapped in your car. Be sure to get your a/c filter changed and maybe buy the Xiaomi air filter for car (1000B). 
• House filter. Again, Xiaomi is a trusted brand with great customer support and affordable reuse able filters. You can also DIY a home filter with parts from ebay. It's easy to do. 
• Most importantly - stop using your car!!!! Sept to Nov should be NO CAR month. It's idiotic that we find ways to live with pollution. It's kinda like getting cancer and continuing to live a sedentary lifestyle and eat junk food. As long as we burn trash, drive vehicles and allow the Thai government to make new plastic manufacturing factories, we will always have this problem. I ride an expensive folding bicycle. It's fun, comfortable, fast and I can take it anywhere. If you have a child that needs to go to school, arrange a carpool with parents that have eco-friendly cars. Use the BTS or MRT when possible too. Petition the government to convert the old busses to electric motors. 

Hope this helps! Don't worry about any spelling or grammar mistakes ????

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

20 minutes ago, LetsCleanUpTHAILAND said:

ALL masks on asian shopping websites (i.e. Lazada and Shoppee) are asian-sized and, thus, TOO SMALL FOR FARANG FACES. Trust me, I found out the expensive way. haha

 

I think it depends on the source of the masks...  If they're U.S. sourced products from 3M with U.S. packaging and labeling, then they should be fine. But if they're Chinese sourced masks, then yes the size issue may well apply.

 

[BigC]

People are suffering people are dying 

 

How dare  you 

 

We'll  be watching you

[JonnyF]

Worst I've known it yesterday. I was only outside for 5 minutes and I could taste it, very difficult to breathe and had a headache for 20 minutes afterwards. 

 

I don't normally notice it but that was brutal.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

59 minutes ago, LetsCleanUpTHAILAND said:

I highly recommend buying RESPRO (U.K. brand) or the cheaper RZ (USA designed, made in China).

 

I don't see any indication that the RZ masks and filters have been certified either by NIOSH in the U.S. or the comparable government agency in China for suitability in avoiding PM2.5.

 

Likewise, Respro sells a ton of different styles of masks, but many of them are not of N95 U.S. or FFP1 Europe standard. A few of them say they are...and are listed as having the proper N95 or FFP / EN certifications, like their StreetSmart line.
 

Quote

 

StreetSmart™ mask is certified to the European Standard (EN149-FFP3). It offers the highest level of protection for the removal of PM2.5. It is equivalent to the American Standard N99, which is higher than N95.

https://respro.com/store/product/s3v-StreetSmart-mask

 

Ideally, for PM2.5, you'd want to see these kinds of designations printed right on the mask - N95 or better from the U.S., and FFP1 or better from the EU.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK