Despite the worry over the burgeoning coronavirus crisis, the North’s air-pollution crisis remains a stronger and more-immediate threat to public health.
Showing they haven’t stopped trying to snuff out the fires causing what has been rated as the worst air quality in the world, officials from three provinces met via video conference March 19 at the Command Center for PM2.5 Prevention and Problem-Solving.
Pralong Dumrongthai, director-general of the Pollution Control Department, said smoke and wildfires in across Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Mae Hong Son remain a problem with fire hotspots still reported near downtown Chiang Mai.
Deputy Gov. Komsan Suwanaumpa said arrests and prosecutions continue, while Thai officials continue to plead with their counterparts in Myanmar and Laos to do their part to extinguish farmland fires.
He said the province also has written to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ secretary’s office to request their help in getting those countries to take stronger steps.
A March 20 video conference with the minister of natural resources and environment, provincial governors and the army were expected to push forward even more control measures.
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