Rainmaking starts to reduce haze in Thai North

CHIANG MAI, February 27 (TNA) - Rainmaking operations have begun in the Thai North to relieve drought and haze widely blanketing the region and will continue until October. Three planes of the Bureau of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation have arrived in Chiang Mai province for the rainmaking mission to reduce the haze, starting this afternoon in Muang district, where dust particles have exceeded the safety standard. However, Kitti Thoopsri, an academic of the northern royal rainmaking center in Chiang Mai, cautioned that rainmaking might not be effective due to low humidity. In nearby Chiang Rai province, dust particles have also exceeded the standard safety level, especially in Mae Sai district, and the number of respiratory patients has kept rising by thousands daily. Meanwhile, drought has hit Phitsanulok province, especially in areas outside irrigated zones, prompting local administrative organizations to use trucks to supply water to their people daily and authorities to have declared six districts drought-stricken areas, including Nakhon Thai, Chattrakan, Noen Maprang, Wat Bot, Wang Thong and Muang districts. (TNA)