Haze in Phuket expected to lift in 2-3 days

PHUKET, August 28 (TNA) -- The Regional Environment Office (REO) in Thailand's southern resort province of Phuket has evaluated the haze which has spread into the province from Indonesia and believed the environment would improve in a couple of days. The Indonesian government has vowed that it was doing its best to contain the ongoing forest fires. Phuket REO Director Dr Pornsri Sunthanarak said haze blown in from neighbouring Indonesia has been hovering over the province for the past two, adding that a 24-hour air quality monitoring has shown that the level of PM10 currently stands at 127 microgrammes per cubic metre, which has exceeded the standard level of 120 microgramme per cubic metre. Nonetheless, the environmental official said, the current situation could improve or worsened depending on the change of the weather, which included the directions of the wind and air pressure. The director believes that the haze situation in Phuket should be lifted within a couple of days, as reports from Sumatra Island of Indonesia has informed that the Indonesian government is doing its best to control the forest fires and haze, as the country has been hit with the fires since August 22. Head of Satun Province Public Health Office, Dr Jaruspong Sukkri, MD, on the other hand said, Satun province has also been hit with the haze, though as not heavily covered as the past 2 days. To handle the situation, his office has been preparing 10,000 face masks to give out to different hospitals around the province, so that each hospital could give them out to the public, particularly those in the risk group of being most affected by the haze, include, the elderly, children and patient with asthma and allergies. Meanwhile, the latest report said that the haze covering the sea currently has no effects on the visibility for fishing trawlers off shore, while the haze hovering over the provincial seat and La-ngu districts has already started to lift, mostly due to the wind which has blown through the province. But just to be on the safe side, the Satun Province Natural Resources and Environment has coordinated with the local Pollution Control Office in bringing out a mobile air quality measuring vehicle to park in front of the Saturn City Hall to daily measure the air quality in the area, where the result has been within the safety limit so far. (TNA)