Thailand haze 'worst in 14 years'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thailand haze 'worst in 14 years'*
POSTED: 0344 GMT (1144 HKT), March 12, 2007
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Reuters) -- Thick smoke from forest fires and
slash-and-burn farming has spread over northern Thailand in the worst
haze in 14 years, disrupting airline flights and irritating eyes and
lungs, officials said on Monday.
The smoke from fires in Thailand and neighboring Laos and Myanmar
slashed visibility in scores of towns and villages, including the major
tourism hub of Chiang Mai.
"When I was driving to work this morning, I could see only 100 to 200
meters ahead of me," Taewan Dumronghud, a station manager for Thai
Airways, told Reuters by telephone from Mae Hong Son near the Myanmar
border.
"We can only hope that the rains will come sooner and wash it away,"
Taewan said, whose car was covered in ash at the airport.
The haze also disrupted flights to Chiang Mai on Sunday when air quality
levels reached their worst in Thailand's second largest city.
Thailand's mountainous north is a popular destination for adventure
tourism. The haze-affected areas are located near the borders of Myanmar
and Laos -- the so-called Golden Triangle once famed for its opium poppy
fields.
Weather experts said unseasonably cold weather had exacerbated the
problem by pushing the smoke down into valleys and other low-lying areas.
"Sixty percent of the haze covering the region comes from burning of
farm waste after harvest, and the other 40 percent from forest fires,"
Anuwat Kunarak, director of the region's Environment Management Office,
told Reuters.
"It's cheaper for farmers to get rid of the waste by setting it on fire
and then switching to a new cash crop," he said, adding the haze was the
worst recorded by his office in 14 years.
Chiang Mai has been draped in a choking, eye-watering haze since last
Friday, triggering health warnings for children and the elderly to stay
inside or use surgery masks.
Healthy adults were urged to stop all outdoor exercise.
Many residents complained of burning eyes, coughing and sore throats
from the smoke.
"This is the worst summer we have had," Pornsanong Teo, a 43-year-old
father, said as he took his son to a city lookout point to observe the
haze.