As a Bangkok resident, I have also been badly affected this week by the hazardous smog. As such, the first thing I do each morning now is check the Air4Thai app on my phone.
The app, developed by the Pollution Control Department (PCD), has been providing a real-time air quality index (AQI), superimposed on digital maps, for the whole country since 2013.
It has recently become a survival kit for me and other Bangkokians, helping us decide whether to stay indoors or venture outside, and if the latter, where to avoid.
Anchalee Kongrut writes about the environment in the Life section, Bangkok Post.
The app shows the concentration levels of six air pollutants: ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter of 10 micrometres or less in diameter (PM10), and particulate matter of 2.5 micrometres or less (PM2.5).
PM10 originates from activities like construction work and rock blasting, whereas PM2.5 is finer and is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, motor vehicle and power plant emissions, and bushfires.
The smaller particles are the source of the hazardous cloud currently polluting the city. The PCD decided to include PM2.5 in how it calculates the air quality a few months ago.
I am a big fan of this app and I recommend everyone to download it. It does a great of job of breaking down the air quality and pollution in easy-to-grasp ways.
The worst air quality in Thailand has been in tambon Na Phra Lan in Chalerm Prakiat district of Saraburi. The area has served as a hub of rock-blasting mines for decades.
The PCD over a decade ago declared the area a pollution control zone. Yet it remains choked with both PM10 and PM2.5, at levels far exceeding national safety limits. When I last checked, the AQI there stood at 205, in the red zone, indicating possible health risks.
I wonder how many of us are aware of the situation there. I also wonder whether the government will spray water over the area, as it has in Bangkok, in an attempt to deal with the haze.
Before downloading the app, be warned that spending too much time monitoring the air quality can be very stressful. Constantly checking the app has left me reeling with dizziness as I am confronted yet again by PM2.5 levels in Bangkok that exceed the safe limit.
Meanwhile, the recent move by local authorities to spray water in parts of the city has done little to reduce PM2.5 levels, because this system works more by suppressing larger particles than by eliminating miniscule ones.
So it seems all we can do is wait for the seasons to change: in about a month, the city will get a natural ventilation boost as higher winds will blow the dust away.
"Everything will be fine once the construction work on mass-transit projects (in the capital) has been completed, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon reassured us earlier, adding plans had been put in place to have these fully operational in three years' time.
While Gen Prawit may have a point that improved public transportation could help to ease the city's congested streets, his argument that it will also bring PM2.5 down to manageable levels requires a much bigger leap of faith.
I don't know whether Gen Prawit or any politicians have used the city's mass transit or even tried walking on local footpaths, which are often full of potholes, obstructive electric poles, dog droppings, motorcycle taxis, and unused phone booths (some of which now serve as storage facilities for street sweepers' brooms).
Bangkok is not a very walkable city. It was developed for use by car. This could also discourage the migration over to mass transit.
With these hurdles in place, I believe the city will end up choking on PM2.5 much more frequently as the problem has not been solved at its core.
PM2.5 has been in Bangkok's air for at least a decade. Last winter, levels were higher than they are now. We just weren't aware of it because the PCD wasn't publishing data about PM2.5 online.
To reduce PM2.5 levels, more is needed than building electric rail networks.
Public policy on energy needs to be reformed on a grand scale. Fossil fuels like coal are major sources of PM2.5, so coal-fired power plants should have no place in our future. Instead, the state must invest more in renewables like solar and wind.
Attention needs to be paid to outdoor burning. I'm not talking about barbecue grills, despite Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang previously trying to shift some of the blame onto these. I'm talking about slash-and-burn practices that have plagued villages in the North such as Chiang Mai for years.
Those living near sugar plantations in the Central Plains are also at risk. Sadly, few are aware of the problem because the PCD does not have monitoring stations in those areas.
Nonetheless, we have options. Pol Gen Aswin can start by planting more trees in the city instead of handing out free face masks.