Haze remains in Thai North

CHIANG MAI, March 9 (TNA) - Haze has remained in many northern Thai areas, resulting in over 24,000 respiratory patients so far. In the heart of Chiang Mai Province, fire engines have been used to spray water in public places in a bid to solve the problem and local people have also sprayed water around their houses, as haze in Muang District was latest measured at 182 micrograms per cubic meter of air, exceeding the safe standard level at 120 micrograms per cubic meter of air. People in Chiang Mai have also suffered from drought, as five districts have been declared drought-stricken areas, including San Kamphaeng and Phrao Districts, causing trouble to over 38,000 local households. In nearby Chiang Rai Province, haze particles have soared to 307.2 micrograms per cubic meter of air and fire engines have also been deployed to spray water, particularly in Wiang Thoeng locality of Thoeng District, as an emergency medicine center has been opened to help local patients. In Phichit Province, thick smoke has cover a highway on a distance of nearly five kilometers, as local farmers and people have widely continued burning hay and harvested paddy fields to prepare for their new crops. Provincial authorities are trying to convince the locals not to do so. Meanwhile, Dr. Somkiatt Siriratanaphruek, Director of the Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases under the Thai Ministry of Public Health, acknowledged that the northern haze has caused respiratory illnesses to over 24,000 people, most of them are in Lamphun Province.(TNA)