Health-hazard haze returns to southern Thailand

Saturday 7 July 2007 01:10:03 PM (GMT+7:00)

SATUN, July 6 (TNA) – Thailand's Pollution Control Department has dispatched a mobile air quality monitoring unit to the southernmost province of Satun, because it is necessary to monitor its air quality closely after the skies there have been clogged with smog from forest fires in Indonesia for a third consecutive day.

MCOT Public Company Limited

Every year at this time (as the winds blow out of the SW) Southern Thailand gets this Indonesian haze. Singapore and Malaysia are worse. One year, it was so bad the haze reached Chumpon. I could smell burning matter on the air and visibility here was less than 1km.

You'd think they would bloody learn by now!

I just did a visa run down to Malaysia yesterday and you couldn't even see the mountains! Just imagine how bad it is for the Indonesians.

Not that bad, apparently. The haze is blown out of Indonesia and onto Singapore, Malaysia and now Thailand.

God I remember the smog from the last few years! Yuch !

Not reached Phuket - YET!! Last year, the haze hung around for months... surprisingly not much press considering the 'global warming' hype of late.

Indonesia predicts much lighter forest fire this year

July 16, 2007

Forest fire in Indonesia was forecast to be much lighter this year due to the greater efforts to combat the fires, Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban said on Monday.

The efforts was mainly targeted to reduce burning during the land clearing, which is the major cause of the frequent forest fire in the country, said the minister.

Source: Xinhua

A mobile air quality measuring unit eh, I doubt they would have been able to see adequately enough to be able to drive the ###### thing in Chiang Mai earlier this year, that's why I moved here last month. Don't tell me I'm in for more of the same.

asian forest fire maps....july 2007

more fire maps for july 2007