ChiangMai smoke/fires....tourists leave....serious for all

[travelerjim]

The Nation today has three photos of the Chiang Mai smoke and fires....

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ .



Not a good sight...and a real problem for both local residents and tourists too.
The Chinese Consulate in Chiang Mai says they are preparing to advise their Chinese visitors to stay away from the North and Chiang Mai.

The Prime Minister finally flew to Chiang Mai today to see for himself...

The local city officials have asked their fire stations to go about the city with their fire trucks and spray water into the air...and...
they have turned on city fountains and sprinklers to spray water in the air....

and also the city has blamed a Korean Bar-B-Que Restaurant chain for having open fires in their restaurants -
which certainly (in the opinion of the wise city fathers) is a major contributor to the smoke in Chiang Mai's air ....

their airplanes are prepared to "seed' the clouds to make more rain...(if rain ever moves into the area).

and the locals still are setting more fires to burn off the brush and farmland to make ready for new season of crops...

Unbelievable....I hope our Sawatdee Chiang Mai readers and residents are OK....
Indeed it appears from news reports that the city and national government has control of the situation ....so...
you can rest better tonight :-)

and a late addition to this posting: (can you believe this ??? )

City to move forward Songkran to April 1st... ????

from late breaking news of Bangkok Post:

http://www.bangkokpost.net/breaking_new ... ?id=117447 (http://www.bangkokpost.net/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=117447)

North to hasten Songkran to fight haze

(BangkokPost.com) - Chiang Mai Municipality plans to bring forward the annual Songkran celebration two weeks earlier with the hope that the water splashing festival would reduce haze and dust particles in the northern provinces.

Chiang Mai governor Boonlert Buranupakorn said the haze-fighting idea came upon him after the municipality effectively used water trucks to increase dampness and reduce dust particles on Wednesday. This prompted him to hasten the Songkran celebration - from April 13 to April 1.

Dust particles smaller than 10 microns were measured at 260.5 per cubic metre (ug/ cu m) Thursday, down from 383 ug/ cu m on Wednesday.

Mr Boonlert added that the municipality ordered 50,000 more of the protective masks that will be distributed to the locals, especially the children, the old and the sick to protect them from smokey haze which resulted from local farmers burning off vegetation at the end of the dry season to enrich soil to prepare for the rainy season.



Here are three photos of the Chiang Mai streets and area....
the 3rd photo actually shows a forest fire in the distance behind the building shown in the photo...

TJ


http://upload7.postimage.org/211062/ChiangMaiSmoke1.jpg (http://upload7.postimage.org/211062/photo_hosting.html)


http://upload7.postimage.org/211072/ChiangMaiSmoke3.jpg (http://upload7.postimage.org/211072/photo_hosting.html)


http://upload7.postimage.org/211093/ChiangMaiSmoke2.jpg (http://upload7.postimage.org/211093/photo_hosting.html)

If its one thing they love up North its a good fire, on a trip a few years ago you could get the impression that the entire province was on fire, especially when travelling at night, entire hills sides as far as the eye could see where glowing gently in flames for hundreds of kilometres on end.

[catawampuscat]

I recall this haze and smoke condition occurring with some regularity as the farmers burn the withered stalks and
debris from the harvest and the fires help clear the land and assist nutrients breaking down to enrich the soil. The prevailing winds blow them into the big city and those with asthma or breathing difficulties have long periods of discomfort every year.

Reports of cleaner air in BKK are hopeful but a friend tells me that the dirt in the air is still a problem but you
can see blue skies now and the particle count is lower and better.. :cat:

[Smiles]

TravekerJim ... enlarging your photos for the Board is not a bad idea.
Actually, these don't blow up that well (too grainy), but at least one gets the picture slightly more clearly.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Images/fire3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Images/fire2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Images/fire1.jpg

Cheers ...