Haze remains in Thai North, flights operate as usual

THAILAND, March 18 (TNA) - Haze has blanketed the Thai North for two weeks, but aviation services, including inbound and outbound flights, have operated as usual, while attempts to put out fires at a swamp forest in the Thai South have been continued. In the northern Chiang Mai Province, thick smog remained in the provincial heart on Wednesday morning, with particulate matters measured at 251 micrograms per cubic meter, exceeding the safe standard level of 120 micrograms per cubic meter. The blanketing haze has not blocked aviation services of the Chiang Mai Airport although it has affected people's health, especially youths, the elderly and those with chronic diseases. In nearby Chiang Rai Province, haze remained critical, considered the worst in the province in a decade, as particulate matters were measured at 382 micrograms per cubic meter in the Nakhon Chiang Rai Municipality and 277 micrograms per cubic meter in Mae Sai District, bordering Myanmar. The critical haze in Chiang Rai has resulted partly from forest fires in Myanmar, while Thai authorities plan to seek help from his Myanmar counterparts in their local border committee meeting on March 19. In Phayao Province, particulate matters were latest measured at 229 micrograms per cubic meter, affecting public health. Deputy Public Health Minister Dr. Somsak Shunharasmi told reporters that his ministry, in the meantime, has ordered all government-run hospitals in nine northern provinces, including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Lamphun, Phrae, Nan and Tak, to be fully-prepared to assist haze-affected people 24 hours, including medicines, while also initially handing them 250,000 face masks and keeping additional 150,000 in stocks to ensure sufficient supply for needed ones. In the Thai South, fire spots in a swamp forest, rubber and palm plantations and orchards in Ban Toh Luebae of Su-ngai Kolok District in Narathiwat Province have, meanwhile, dropped from five to three. Smog from the fires has covered a radius of two kilometers and workers have continued trying to put out the blazes, but impacts on people in urban communities remain limited. (TNA)