On the evening of January 31st, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the government will further increase measures to deal with the ongoing smog problem in and around Bangkok. The additional measures are to be in line with the Government’s four level categorization of the pollution problem, with “Stage Four” being the most serious allowing for official declaration of disaster zone in the affected areas.

The PM also stressed the need for all parties concerned to join forces to tackle the problem and to not politicize the issue during this pre-election period.

The prime minister is due to visit Bangkok’s Chatuchak area to witness the ongoing operations to tackle the smog.
Meanwhile, the National Environment Board (NEB), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, will hold a meeting as soon as possible to identify more short and long-term measures which can be used to address the smog problem.

The pollution remains a problem after more than two weeks of Government efforts, including atmospheric water spraying, cloud-seeding operations, road cleanups and tighter monitoring and control of vehicle emissions.

The new measures identified by the NEB will be submitted to the cabinet for finalization.

The smog situation eased today (Friday), with fewer airborne PM2.5 dust particles detected in all areas of Bangkok and its vicinity. However, 35 areas are still experiencing PM2.5 particulate matter exceeding the 50-micron level, according to the Pollution Control Department.

The department said that the situation is expected to improve further tomorrow.