Chiang Mai '3rd most polluted city'
published : 4 Mar 2021 at 09:31
writer: Gary Boyle
Chiang Mai was ranked as the third most air-polluted city in the world on Wednesday, with high levels of PM2.5 dust.
The northern province is battling with a critical level of air pollution due to wildfire smoke, with the average amount of PM2.5 exceeding the safe level on Wednesday.
An air quality monitoring station in Muang district reported PM2.5 of 102 µg/m3.
On the website of AirVisual, Chiang Mai was ranked the third most polluted in the world as of 11am on Wednesday, after Lahore in Pakistan and New Delhi in India.
Some 928 hotspots were detected across 17 northern provinces on Wednesday morning.
In Tak, PM2.5 and PM10 exceeded the safe level for four days, affecting people's health and road visibility.
On Wednesday, PM2.5 and PM10 in the province were measured at 114 and 171 µg/m3 -- above health-hazard levels -- in Mae Sot district. People were told to avoid all outdoor activities and stay away from areas with high air pollution.
Tak's governor said the province had banned burning for two months starting from March 1. Those who burned in forests or were found to carry hunting equipment would be charged by forest patrol officers, the governor warned.
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Vocabulary
- banned: officially not allowed to do something - ถูกห้ามอย่างเป็นทางการ
- critical (adj): (of a bad situation) very serious or dangerous - รุนแรง วิกฤต
- exceed: to be more than something; to go beyond a limit - เกินกว่าที่กำหนด
- hotspot: a place where there is a lot of activity, or a higher temperature than normal -
- PM2.5 (n): atmospheric particulate matter (PM) with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres, which is about 3% the diameter of a human hair. It can lodge in the lungs and enter blood vessels, leading to respiratory and cardiovascular disease -
- polluted: (of water, air, land) having dirty or harmful substances so that it is no longer pleasant or safe to use - ซึ่งเป็นมลพิษ
- visibility: how clearly objects can be seen, or how far you can see clearly, usually because of the weather conditions - ทัศนวิสัย
- wildfire (noun): a fire in a forested area that begins naturally, i.e., is not likely caused by humans - ไฟป่าที่รุนแรงและลุกไหม้เป็นบริเวณกว้าง
