Phuket deputy governor Anupap appointed a committee on Monday to fight the severe dust pollution gripping the island province. In a meeting at city hall that he lead that day, Anupap stressed that forest fires are common during Thailand’s dry season, and they create fine particulate dust matter, PM2.5, in dust, soot, smoke, and liquid. He said with bad ventilation and low wind leading to bad air circulation, dust can build up and hurt people’s health, as well as society and the economy.
Anupap said the committee has drafted a response plan with precaution efforts and action plans for local government agencies to cooperate with each other on. The local agencies will share equipment and resources, such as fire prevention equipment. Anupap said even though PM2.5 can exist naturally, it’s usually produced by human activities. These include open-air burning, crop burning, forest fires, irresponsibly discarded cigarette butts, badly maintained cars, and construction and transportation.
The Monday meeting at city hall was held in the Phuket Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office. One official who joined Anupap was the head of the office.
Earlier this month, an agency reported that air quality in Thailand’s North and Northeast was deteriorating mostly due to farmers burning waste, and villagers lighting fires in forests. The country’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency said there were 1,060 ‘hot spots’ across Thailand. 110 of the hotspots were in Chiang Mai province, and 92 were in Lampang province. The hot spots were leading to increasing levels of PM2.5 dust.
SOURCE: The Phuket News