Bangkok Suffers Severe Smog as PM2.5 Levels Soar Amidst Heat Wave

[kwilco]

18 hours ago, MarkBR said:

We have wonderful air up around Chiang Mai, Lamphun & surrounding provinces.  Maybe if this afflicts Bangkok, maybe then the politicians will actually do something.  Although, 35 is not bad, was in Xi'an when the ppm hit nearly 400 which was very very bad.

you mean NOW? Chiang Mai is potentially one of te most polluted cities in all of S.E. Asia - tens of thousands are treated in hospitals every year.

[kwilco]

5 hours ago, MarkBR said:

Will be getting an air purifier for this seaon's fire burning.  I agree it is horrific.  Just pointing out 35 is not bad, comparatively.

that is about as useful as a chocolate teapot!

[NorthernRyland]

Chiang Mai is always polluted except directly after a rain. probably a million cars and motorbikes spewing pollution. However even in Samoeng with very few cars it's 80 now with clear skies and just had a little rain even. Not sure the numbers are so high.

 

If you love and die by those numbers I would leave all of Asia and never return. pm2.5 is always. Even in rural areas the people burn daily and in huge quantities in the evening.

 

 

[xtrnuno41]

Well that is because there are lots of chain smokers in BK ! 

[Will B Good]

 

 

Why are people getting stressed about the AQI?......The government have repeatedly assured the public it is being closely monitored.

[Rolo89]

Thailand currently has the place with the worst air quality on earth.

 

 

 

[MarkBR]

4 hours ago, kwilco said:

that is about as useful as a chocolate teapot!

HIgh quality air purifiers will work to reduce dramatically pm2.5.  Cheap ones will not work so well.

[shackleton]

Yet floods Air pollution Tourists come in their millions to Thailand 🇹🇭.

Am I missing something do the Thai Tourust people know something positive we 

Don't 🤔

 

[kwilco]

8 hours ago, MarkBR said:

HIgh quality air purifiers will work to reduce dramatically pm2.5.  Cheap ones will not work so well.

 

 

Not really depends on where and how you use them - which is only in a few circumstances - While some costly air purifiers are highly effective indoors, they are only part of the solution for living in a polluted city. You would have to stay indoors all the time for them to be effective.,  The purifier can help to create safe, clean space at home (or at work). You still have to use your purifier in conjunction with outdoor precautions like masks, timing, and limiting outdoor exposure during peak pollution,.

 

[Captain Flack]

Posts commenting on moderation have been removed.

[kwilco]

19 hours ago, rumeaug said:

Wonder where that smog comes from though

As said  - traffic and industry.TH reason for smog is there is no wind to blow the stuff away and a clouded sky, so pollutants just gather under the clouds and stay where they are.BKK is low lying and the weather is often ver clam. Chiang Mai is is just sitting in a "bowl" surrounded by hills so it is particularly prone to bouts of smog especialally between Jan and April when crop burning and man-made fires together with traffic and industry al come together to create a pollution soup of PM2.5 particles

[kwilco]

21 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

Chiang Mai is always polluted except directly after a rain. probably a million cars and motorbikes spewing pollution. However even in Samoeng with very few cars it's 80 now with clear skies and just had a little rain even. Not sure the numbers are so high.

 

If you love and die by those numbers I would leave all of Asia and never return. pm2.5 is always. Even in rural areas the people burn daily and in huge quantities in the evening.

 

 

I know several Thai families who desperately want to leave the region. They are very concerned about this recurring PM2 5 pollution.

In just one hospital in 2023, 12,671 people sought treatment for respiratory issues at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital between January 1 and March 31 due to air pollution. The hospital was unable to treat many people due to overcrowding in the inpatient wing

[kwilco]

21 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

Chiang Mai is always polluted except directly after a rain. probably a million cars and motorbikes spewing pollution. However even in Samoeng with very few cars it's 80 now with clear skies and just had a little rain even. Not sure the numbers are so high.

 

If you love and die by those numbers I would leave all of Asia and never return. pm2.5 is always. Even in rural areas the people burn daily and in huge quantities in the evening.

 

 

Just because a city was "always polluted" doesn't make it right. And it's getting worse.

Firstly Chiang Mai for instance has more cars and more I dustry. Then there is crop burning and nan made fires.

Despite being illegal they are on the increase due to pressure from the CARTELs that run the sugar, maize and rice commodities. They encourage more production and using burning as a short cut to growing more crops.

The impact on tourism  Thailand's golden child of the economy is also being felt. For many areas on the North now Jan to March is closed season when in other parts of the country, it is peak season.

This may make even the authorities sit up and take note.

 

Exposure to PM2.5 is calculated to take 2 or more years off  life expectancy 

 

[brfsa2]

Here where I have my second home in the country side, not a small town, the government stopped collecting the trash, now everyone has to burn their own trash, just every where people are burning plastics and trash. 

They said, the local gov. don't have place to burn the trash, so cannot collect anymore!!!! 

[NorthernRyland]

6 hours ago, brfsa2 said:

Here where I have my second home in the country side, not a small town, the government stopped collecting the trash, now everyone has to burn their own trash, just every where people are burning plastics and trash. 

They said, the local gov. don't have place to burn the trash, so cannot collect anymore!!!! 

seriously? where, which village? very unusual.

[Will B Good]

6 hours ago, brfsa2 said:

Here where I have my second home in the country side, not a small town, the government stopped collecting the trash, now everyone has to burn their own trash, just every where people are burning plastics and trash. 

They said, the local gov. don't have place to burn the trash, so cannot collect anymore!!!! 

 

 

Our refuse collection is excellent.....same day, same time every week......and the villagers still burn their rubbish every f*****g morning.

 

 

[NorthernRyland]

7 hours ago, kwilco said:

Just because a city was "always polluted" doesn't make it right. And it's getting worse.

Firstly Chiang Mai for instance has more cars and more I dustry. Then there is crop burning and nan made fires.

Despite being illegal they are on the increase due to pressure from the CARTELs that run the sugar, maize and rice commodities. They encourage more production and using burning as a short cut to growing more crops.

The impact on tourism  Thailand's golden child of the economy is also being felt. For many areas on the North now Jan to March is closed season when in other parts of the country, it is peak season.

This may make even the authorities sit up and take note.

 

Exposure to PM2.5 is calculated to take 2 or more years off  life expectancy 

 

you don't have to tell me. It's a total disaster and no I don't see them fixing this in any of our lifetimes. My only point is Chiang Mai is worse than the entire region because of normal city pollution. Other places like Chiang Dao and Phrao have worse smoke in the burning season but when that clears it's clean, unless a person is burning near you (which they probably area lol).

[NorthernRyland]

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

Our refuse collection is excellent.....same day, same time every week......and the villagers still burn their rubbish every f*****g morning.

 

you mean like general trash, plastics food waste etc...? I live in a pretty backwards area still I never see a person burning garbage except on the most rare circumstances.  Yard waste though? oh yeah. It looks like a WWII bombing campaign in the valley some evenings.

[Will B Good]

Just now, NorthernRyland said:

you mean like general trash, plastics food waste etc...? I live in a pretty backwards area still I never see a person burning garbage except on the most rare circumstances.  Yard waste though? oh yeah. It looks like a WWII bombing campaign in the valley some evenings.

 

Anything.

 

The wife claims they do it because the dogs are cold on a morning.......like Thais give a flying........about their dogs.

 

We have a garage about 200m away....once a week they burn tyres and old engine oil......!!!

[NorthernRyland]

18 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

Anything.

 

The wife claims they do it because the dogs are cold on a morning.......like Thais give a flying........about their dogs.

 

We have a garage about 200m away....once a week they burn tyres and old engine oil......!!!

tragic people. what a pity.

[Sigmund]

Burning thrash and waste is a daily sport in cities like Hua Hin and depending on the wind direction, it's unbearable on some days in Hin Lek Fai area and other areas around.

 

As for Bangkok, the excessive amount of private cars all over and lack of public transport definately will not help to contain the Pm levels.

[SingAPorn]

22 minutes ago, Sigmund said:

Burning thrash and waste is a daily sport in cities like Hua Hin and depending on the wind direction, it's unbearable on some days in Hin Lek Fai area and other areas around.

 

As for Bangkok, the excessive amount of private cars all over and lack of public transport definately will not help to contain the Pm levels.

Hua Hin is ok to visit once, but really is a boring place for all the overweight western retirees and their 20 year old rent-a-week,  girlfriends. No public transport if you leave the main downtown beach area and one just end's up in the middle of nowhere in those Black Mountain areas with only golf courses, overpriced restaurants the the pool villa developpments that target guilable foreigners to sell their pool villas  that look very nice but many are full of defects and flaws once you live in for a few years.

[kwilco]

2 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

seriously? where, which village? very unusual.

 

Local trash collection services or rather lack of them is a major contribution to air pollution.  It is NOT a daily occurance, it is a seasonal tradition.

In Thailand the end of the dry season has for centuries been the time when you burn all you rubbish, crops etc etc - it is no coincidence that it is followed by the Thai New Year.THat is all right in small amounts but now with an increasingly industrialised and urbanised population it has become unacceptable.

 

On Samui and other islands the rubbish tips have become public nightmares - and fores erupt etc - all down to the hopeless garbage management systems that  prevail all over Thailand - and as for the disposal of industrial waste, it is quite scandalous.

[kwilco]

2 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

you don't have to tell me. It's a total disaster and no I don't see them fixing this in any of our lifetimes. My only point is Chiang Mai is worse than the entire region because of normal city pollution. Other places like Chiang Dao and Phrao have worse smoke in the burning season but when that clears it's clean, unless a person is burning near you (which they probably area lol).

Chiang Mai is also bad because of its topography coupled with climate. 

[kwilco]

On 10/9/2024 at 12:48 PM, shackleton said:

Yet floods Air pollution Tourists come in their millions to Thailand 🇹🇭.

Am I missing something do the Thai Tourust people know something positive we 

Don't 🤔

 

I don't think you'll see adverts asking you to come to Chiang Mai "the most polluted city in the World" -will you?

[Patong2021]

The pictogram explains so much. There are days when Hua Hin air quality is  very bad, coughing and phlegm level. Why would people want to holiday in thailand? What's the new slogan for higher income tourists? Come with white lungs and leave with a lovely brown glaze?

[kwilco]

2 hours ago, Sigmund said:

Burning thrash and waste is a daily sport in cities like Hua Hin and depending on the wind direction, it's unbearable on some days in Hin Lek Fai area and other areas around.

 

As for Bangkok, the excessive amount of private cars all over and lack of public transport definately will not help to contain the Pm levels.

you can't burn when it's wet.

[brfsa2]

15 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

seriously? where, which village? very unusual.

In the very south of Thailand, dont want to say details, the population is 2X,000 people. 

They used to collect trash once a week when we used to drop in the front near the road. they stopped since last year. so now people just burn trash including my in laws, they just dump somewhere and burn it once or twice a month. 

[Sigmund]

20 hours ago, kwilco said:

you can't burn when it's wet.

 Good point you made as I wonder how they manage to to it...as it is obviously humid most of the time.  Guess with gasoline topped over...

[NorthernRyland]

23 hours ago, SingAPorn said:

Hua Hin is ok to visit once, but really is a boring place for all the overweight western retirees and their 20 year old rent-a-week,  girlfriends. No public transport if you leave the main downtown beach area and one just end's up in the middle of nowhere in those Black Mountain areas with only golf courses, overpriced restaurants the the pool villa developpments that target guilable foreigners to sell their pool villas  that look very nice but many are full of defects and flaws once you live in for a few years.

 

8 mil baht for 130sqm pool villa. Concrete shell with lots of glass. Developer is making a killing.