Flights to Chiang Mai disrupted as smog levels soar in North

[webfact]

Flights to Chiang Mai disrupted as smog levels soar in North
The Nation


HAZY DAYS An AirAsia plane parks at Chiang Mai Airport yesterday in poor visibility caused by smog that has blanketed the North in recent weeks. Some flights to Chiang Mai were delayed while others were cancelled or diverted to Chiang Rai.

Mae Hong Son man, 60, arrested for defying burning ban; PM10 readings high

BANGKOK: -- THE AMOUNT of tiny dust particles in the upper North rose beyond the safety level again yesterday and poor visibility reportedly prevented at least four flights from landing at Chiang Mai Airport.

Meanwhile, a 60-year-old Mae Hong Son man was the first person arrested this season for violating the outdoor-burning ban, which is a key measure to alleviate the smog problem.

Readings of small particulate matter up to 10 microns in diameter (PM10) were very high at Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai at 311 micrograms per cubic metre as of 1pm.

Readings at other towns in the North were: Phayao 271mcg, Chiang Mai 279mcg, Lampang 189mcg, Lamphun 189mcg, Phrae 152mcg, Nan 141mcg and Tak 130mcg. The maximum safety level is set at 120mcg per cubic metre.

Local bodies were trying to combat the haze with various measures; Chiang Mai sent fire trucks to sprinkle water into air while Mae Hong Son requested an artificial rain-making operation to reduce the dust.

An informed source said that from 11am to 1pm, haze reduced visibility at Chiang Mai Airport to only 800 metres, which caused pilots to make a decision on whether to land. At least four decided not to: Thai Airways Flight 102 from Bangkok had to U-turn to Suvarnabhumi Airport; SL 8504 (Lion Air) flew back to Don Mueang; while PG 241 (Bangkok Airways) from Samui and FD3161 (Air Asia) from Phuket landed at Mae Fah Luang Airport in Chiang Rai, which reportedly had its lights turned on to improve visibility.

Other flights to or from Chiang Mai continued as usual.

Meanwhile, in Myanmar, all flights to Tachilek Airport in Shan state were reportedly cancelled because of poor visibility.

In regard to the arrest for outdoor burning, Mae Hong Son Provincial Police commander Pol Maj-General Jaruek Limsuwan said yesterday that police used satellite data to detect hot spots. This led to the arrest on Sunday of Dang Maneejan, 60, as he burned weeds in his property during the ban period.

"Police are now taking violations of the burning ban seriously, so we ask people to avoid burning anything even in their own house area during the province's 60-day ban period. And police can detect a fire from the satellite surveillance," he warned. The ban period is March 1 to April 29.

In Phitsanulok's Chat Trakan district, a wild fire ravaged around 500 rai (80 hectares) of forest. The blaze started on Sunday evening but was brought under control yesterday, although smoke affected 100 families living within a 2-kilometre radius.

The haze problem has hit local people's health and daily lives, with thousands seeking medical treatment for respiratory problems. However, Isara Sathapanaset, director the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Chiang Rai office, insisted yesterday that the tourism sector was not affected, as this is the low season.

Mae Hong Son Chamber of Commerce chairman Thanit Thaitrong also said the haze wasn't the main factor contributing to a lower number of tourists.

After a joint private committee met yesterday to discuss the impact the 10-day haze is having on Chiang Mai's tourism sector and economy, Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce chairperson Wipawan Woraputipong said a survey showed that hotel bookings had not yet been cancelled.

However, visitors from other regions of Thailand have either dropped or postponed their visit to the province, she added. Calling on all sides to help solve the haze problem, she warned that the impact would worsen if the haze continued for a prolonged period. The joint private committee will also offer recommendations to the Chiang Mai governor later, she added.

Since the biggest contributor to haze was the burning of agricultural waste and setting fire to clear land, she said they could not just blame villagers. Instead, she said, the authorities should also look at business operators who buy the produce, like contract-farming companies or the public sector that supports cash crops.

She said these groups should be responsible of finding ways to properly dispose agricultural waste or the government could consider raising tax as a means of resolving the problem at the root.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Flights-to-Chiang-Mai-disrupted-as-smog-levels-soa-30256157.html

-- The Nation 2015-03-17

[clockman]

They just will not grasp the nettle. Excuses. Talk. The root cause of all Thailands problems Is corruption in every sector.

[DGS1244]

The so called 'Air Asia' plane in the picture looks a lot more like Thai Airways???

[trogers]

I would not blame corruption much in this case. More of Selfishness - I can, so I will!

[lumply]

Strange description of a TG parking. Looks from the configuration of the flaps that it is about to touch down.

[Saan]

How many deaths from respiratory problems are need to have authorities take action on burning? What and effort to prevent burning - one person arrested.

Maybe if they gave us a figure, say 20 dead and we will take some action, We could then start counting. Probably 200 dead would be more realistic figure to prompt some action.

[trogers]

How many deaths from respiratory problems are need to have authorities take action on burning? What and effort to prevent burning - one person arrested.

Maybe if they gave us a figure, say 20 dead and we will take some action, We could then start counting. Probably 200 dead would be more realistic figure to prompt some action.

The only event that would prompt some action is an exodus of foreigners.

On the other hand, that might not work. May only result in a flood of Chinese, and welcome to Beijing.

Edited March 17, 2015 by trogers

[webfact]

North still blanketed with thick haze



BANGKOK: -- Several northern provinces are still blanketed with thick and smoky haze with slim hope that the situation will ease over the next few days.

Latest satellite images released by the Department of National parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation showed several hotspots in two clusters of Northern Thailand. One cluster covers Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, and another covers Phayao, Mae Hong Son and Lampang.

Air measurements in these provinces remain hazardous to health with particulate measured over safety levels.

Hotspots were also detected in Myanmar which is worsening the haze situation in Thailand as smoky haze was blown across the border to Thailand.

Thai authorities are seeking cooperation from Myanmar to help asking villagers to stop burning.

The Departments of Pollution Control said average particulate matters measured the Northern towns stayed at 42-303 microgrammes per cubic metre.

In Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, air quality was measured at 303 and 300 respectively while average air quality in the North is at 258 microgrammes per cubic metre on Monday.

Health authorities said more than 37,000 people have sought treatment for respiratory problems at community clinics.

There still has no other factor that will ease the smoky haze in the next few days, it said.

Yesterday the thick, smoky haze caused by farmers burning off secondary growth is causing health problems and disrupted four flights from landing in Chiang Mai.

Two flights from Bangkok – TG106 from Suvarnabhumi, and Thai Lion Air flight SL8504 from Don Mueang – were forced to return to the capital.

Two other flights from the South – PG241 of Bangkok Airways from Koh Samui and FD3161 of Thai AirAsia from Phuket – were also diverted to Chiang Rai between 11.40 am and 12.30 pm

Minister of natural resources and environment Gen Dapong Ratanasuwan made an aerial inspection over Chiang Mai yesterday.

He said the smoke haze was caused by farmers burning off secondary growth.

He said the problem was worst in Mae Chaem district where fires were observed in at least 10 locations.

Local officials told him that measures imposed to restrict the burning practice had been unsuccessful and not strictly enforced at local levels.

More water trucks and firemen were mobilised to stop the bush fires and burnings.

Elsewhere in the North particulate matter was measured at 251 mcg in Phayao, Lamphun 180 mcg, Lampang 161 mcg, Phrae 137 mcg, Nan 133 mcg and Tak 132 mcg. All these levels were harmful to health.

The maximum safe standard is 120 mcg.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/north-still-blanketed-with-thick-haze


-- Thai PBS 2015-03-17

[Johnny S]

I would not blame corruption much in this case. More of Selfishness - I can, so I will!

As soon as some money is needed to take care of a problem corruption is the case - why dont they fly the waterplane anymore .... Money went into wrong pockets ...!

[khwaibah]

"Latest satellite images released by the Department of National parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation showed several hotspots in two clusters of Northern Thailand. One cluster covers Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, and another covers Phayao, Mae Hong Son and Lampang." I don't thank so. released by..

http://www.earthweek.com/online/ew070316/ew070316b.html

[khwaibah]

"Latest satellite images released by the Department of National parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation showed several hotspots in two clusters of Northern Thailand. One cluster covers Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, and another covers Phayao, Mae Hong Son and Lampang." I don't thank so. released by..

http://www.earthweek.com/online/ew070316/ew070316b.html

[khwaibah]

This is the latest.

[kkerry]

Wow, great flying skills by the Thai Airways pilot to land at Chiang Mai Airport in haze so thick you can't even make out where the AirAsia plane is parked...

[cardinalblue]

The problem should have been addressed years ago....

They are so damn clueless; it is on par with bkk traffic meaning what they do now will have very little/no impact...The boat has left the harbor and beyond repair this year..

It is such a systemic problem that requires complete attitude and paradigm shift in how things are done now. This is the Thai way of not confronting a problem and let festers out of control then they do things like arrest a person who has no bearing on the underlying cause...another worthless face saving gesture...Where's the photo with him pointing to the land he has burned with the arresting cops in the background????

Thai gov deserves to be soundly criticized for years of practicing incompetency and ignorance...

Let me have all you Thai apologists....pristine blue skies with a backdrop of snow covered mountains 60 miles away from where I sit..

Hope to get my family out soon...

CM's new marketing logo..."the city of part-time living - June to October!"

CB

Edited March 17, 2015 by cardinalblue

[angiolo]

Mae Sai . Today the worst smog I have seen during the last 10 years. I went to the 7/11 ,few minutes walk. The sun is hazy and weak. My eyes were stinging in that time. What is the matter with Thai people ? How can they put up with this dangerous atmosphere,year after year. ? Is this Thainess?

[trogers]

Mae Sai . Today the worst smog I have seen during the last 10 years. I went to the 7/11 ,few minutes walk. The sun is hazy and weak. My eyes were stinging in that time. What is the matter with Thai people ? How can they put up with this dangerous atmosphere,year after year. ? Is this Thainess?

It's always someone else's problem, not mine. Very low in social responsibility, very high in selfishness.

If they cannot be responsible for the safety of their own kids on motorbikes, can you ask them for more?

[GlobalCtzn]

I would really like to hear at least ONE well-reasoned, informed response that included a real world solution to this problem, rather than the endless Thai bashing. These forest floors burn MULTIPLE times each dry season, as the leaf fall is tremendous inside the forest. If you could stop the burning in the forest (which I doubt is possible) for 3 to 5 years you would build up such a fuel supply that when it did eventually burn you would lose entire sections of forest to inferno type fires, rather than the slow creeping leaf cleaning fires that burn about 6-12 inches of leaf cover at a time. Any of you Thai bashers out there have a solution? Anyone?

[GlobalCtzn]

I would really like to hear at least ONE well-reasoned, informed response that included a real world solution to this problem, rather than the endless Thai bashing. These forest floors burn MULTIPLE times each dry season, as the leaf fall is tremendous inside the forest. If you could stop the burning in the forest (which I doubt is possible) for 3 to 5 years you would build up such a fuel supply that when it did eventually burn you would lose entire sections of forest to inferno type fires, rather than the slow creeping leaf cleaning fires that burn about 6-12 inches of leaf cover at a time. Any of you Thai bashers out there have a solution? Anyone?

[puukao]

Enjoy paradise my friends. Health is wealth. Protect it. Is saving a few quid/dollar/pounds worth your health?

you can all come stay with me...in Beijing. lol. kidding.

[Papayabokbok]

All i want to say is ***COUGH*** ..nevermind..

[beautifulthailand99]

London had this probem in spades back in the 1950s with pea-souper fogs that meant you could barely see you hand in frot of your face. This was back when we burnt coal

in home fires , urban power stations and locomotives. It reached its height with the great smog of 1952 when up to 12,000 people died. It led to the Clean Air Act of 1956 which sorted the problem out. Thailand needs to do the same and quick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog

[IsaanUSA]

They just will not grasp the nettle. Excuses. Talk. The root cause of all Thailands problems Is corruption in every sector.

Corruption? It's just farmers burning rubbish.

[trogers]

They just will not grasp the nettle. Excuses. Talk. The root cause of all Thailands problems Is corruption in every sector.

Corruption? It's just farmers burning rubbish.

Rubbish? Not so much. Burning is the preferred method after harvesting rice, corn and sugar cane.

[IsaanUSA]

They just will not grasp the nettle. Excuses. Talk. The root cause of all Thailands problems Is corruption in every sector.

Corruption? It's just farmers burning rubbish.

Rubbish? Not so much. Burning is the preferred method after harvesting rice, corn and sugar cane.

So you wouldn't call that rubbish? It's just unwanted stuff (rubbish) that they need to get rid of. Sorry, I'm American and tried to use your British vocabulary.