Northern Thailand braces for severe air pollution crisis

[thesetat]

11 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

And the goverment response is .................

They are waiting for the planes to be grounded before really acting on this. Only a great loss of tourism income caused by lack of flights will get them to take drastic action. 

[VocalNeal]

I live in the north but not in a bowl or geological amphitheatre.  Today we can see the mountains. For me that means it is getting better

[Nemises]

Feel sorry for the farang who chose to “live the dream” there. Sad really. 

[newbee2022]

So health of citizens is less important than a few Baht more?

Sometimes words cannot express what I would like to say.

[LALes]

Bracing for?  You mean the crap they've been dealing with lately doesn't register?  Unbelievable.  Who writes this idiocy?

[Bundooman]

12 hours ago, Thailand said:

A brief respite with a downpour in some areas of Chiang Mai on Tuesday night but the smog will soon settle back in without further rain.

 

Governments response- can't really do anything or tourists may not come!

 

Pathetic!

Agreed! Do they honestly believe that the world doesn't know about Thailand's pollution problem?

My daughter in UK mentioned it weeks ago. - it was splashed all over the news, nationwide!

[Bobthegimp]

2 hours ago, Roo Island said:

A lot of the blame lies with neighboring countries. Look at the fire map. Though Thailand shares in the problem. 

 

Yes, I just rode part of the Mae Hong Son Loop and there were fires all over the place, one of which nearly melted my polyester shirt.  The AQI in Mae Hong Son was amongst the worst I've ever experienced aside from the fires in the Okanagan last summer. 

 

The air quality improved on the road to Mae Sot, but there were freshly burned areas along the road for much of the distance.

3 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

 

That said, Id rather be choking on smog in Chiang Mai rather than some <deleted> hole Issan village

 

I just spent the last 18 days riding through Issan and north to Pai, then down to Ayutthaya where I am tonight.  There were plenty of nice places in Issan, something that shocked me after reading so many comments like the one above.

 

The only 2 places I disliked were Phitsanulok and....Chiang Mai!  The word sh it hole was precisely what came to mind for both places. CM had air like Mordor and the traffic of Bangkok.  The place is cheap for a reason.  This was my second trip to CM, the last one being 18 years ago and that visit,too, was cut short due to the terrible air quality. 

 

 

[arithai12]

13 hours ago, Thailand said:

13 hours ago, Thailand said:

A brief respite with a downpour in some areas of Chiang Mai on Tuesday night but the smog will soon settle back in without further rain.

 

Governments response- can't really do anything or tourists may not come!

 

Pathetic!

You are right. Let's declare it a disaster zone. And of course, Bangkok too since today it was worse than CM. And it is worse on average year round. Ready to close Suvarnabhumi and evacuate 13M or whatever people living there?

[arithai12]

13 hours ago, Thailand said:

13 hours ago, Thailand said:

A brief respite with a downpour in some areas of Chiang Mai on Tuesday night but the smog will soon settle back in without further rain.

 

Governments response- can't really do anything or tourists may not come!

 

Pathetic!

You are right. Let's declare it a disaster zone. And of course, Bangkok too since today it was worse than CM. And it is worse on average year round. Ready to close Suvarnabhumi and evacuate 13M or whatever people living there?

[LEXUS 400]

The " Healt Minister " , provide Cannabis for healt problems , so no problem !.

[OldmanJ]

It appears the government are more interested in tourists $ than the health of the people in the worse smog filled city in the world.Who wants to go to a place where you can't breath and get sick anyway.

[still kicking]

17 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

And the goverment response is .................

 

[MangoKorat]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin stated that the government must protect the tourism industry and that the decision not to declare these provinces disaster areas was taken after extensive discussion with relevant agencies.

And just what does he think will happen to future tourism when today's tourists arrive and see how things are?

 

How will people feel when they find the mountain views the glossy brochures promised can't be seen and they are advised to wear masks?

 

Bitter tastes tend to last a long time.

Edited March 21 by MangoKorat

[cmjl]

We used to travel in Northern Thailand for a couple of months each year,usually in January and February,after the last time we were there when the pollution was so bad we couldn't breathe properly we aren't in a hurry to go back.

[Skipalongcassidy]

"The fiscal budget allocation delay, from October 2023 to likely the following month, has intensified the debate. Opposition parties argue that declaring Chiang Mai a disaster area would grant the province additional funds to control the forest fires causing much of the pollution."

 

Charge the sugar cane industry and clean up your act... until the spoilers have to pay for their actions nothing will happen.

[cardinalblue]

On 3/21/2024 at 8:53 AM, lordblackader said:

The Thaiger is clueless - Chiang Mai isn't about to have severe pollution, it just had some and the air quality this morning is as good as it has been in a month. 

And stage 2 cancer is better than stage 4

 

"It's better than in the last month" b/c it's been the worst in the world....AP is absolute it is not relative so comparative analysis is downright idiotic thinking