Bangkok has world's third worst air quality

Pollution, recently
Pollution, recently

Bangkok on Wednesday recorded the world's third worst air quality on Air Visual, a popular app monitoring pollution, and PM2.5 levels are predicted to rise until the end of this week.

The level of PM2.5 at 9.30am on Wednesday rose to over 119 microgrammes per cubic metre (µg/m³), placing the Thai capital third behind only Australia's Canberra and India's New Delhi in terms of air pollution.

However, by 6pm the level of PM2.5 had dropped to 33.9µg/m³, placing the city 32nd on the app's real-time ranking of the world's air quality.

In a related development, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has put its health officials on high alert following a rise of PM2.5 in 38 of 50 areas in the capital and adjacent provinces.

The PM2.5 levels have worsened since Monday. The government considers readings of 51 or more unsafe for health. Elsewhere in the world the safe level is usually much lower.

The director of the BMA's Health Department said officials at mobile units led by 68 health offices were instructed to step up an awareness campaign among city residents, with a focus on vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, pregnant women and people with heart and respiratory complaints.

The fine dust can cause severe respiratory disorders. People with underlying health problems were advised to wear face masks and avoid non-essential outdoor activities.

To help relieve the situation, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda has ordered the police to strictly monitor emissions from vehicles and factories and enforce the ban on open-air burning.

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Vocabulary

  • adjacent: very near, next to, or touching - ติดกัน
  • alert: a warning to people to be prepared to deal with something dangerous - การเตือนให้ระวัง
  • awareness: the state of knowing about something - การรับรู้, การทราบ
  • disorder: an illness or medical condition - ความผิดปกติทางกายหรือใจ
  • emissions: gases going into the air - การปล่อยก๊าซเสียสู่ท้องฟ้า
  • enforce : to make sure laws are obeyed - บังคับให้ใช้, บังคับให้ทำ, ใช้กำลังบังคับให้ปฏิบัติตาม
  • mask: something that you wear to cover part or all of your face in order to hide who you are, for protection or for decoration - หน้ากาก, เครื่องปิดหน้า
  • mobile unit (noun): a group of people, usually police, soldiers or medical workers, who work together and regularly move around to places where they are needed - หน่วยเคลื่อนที่
  • pollution (noun): contaminated, when something has been made dirty, poisonous, unpleasant to see or smell and possibly dangerous to health - การทำให้เป็นมลพิษ, การทำให้สกปรก, ภาวะมลพิษ, สภาวะมลพิษ, มลภาวะเป็นพิษ, สภาพเป็นพิษ, ความสกปรก
  • ranking: the position of somebody/something on a scale that shows how good or important they are in relation to other similar people or things, especially in sport - อันดับ
  • respiratory: involving breathing - เกี่ยวกับการหายใจ
  • underlying (adj): important in a situation but not always easily noticed or stated clearly; existing under the surface of something else - ที่สำคัญและซ่อนอยู่, ที่อยู่ในตำแหน่งต่ำกว่า
  • vulnerable: easily damaged - ซึ่งถูกทำลายได้ง่าย

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