Smoke haze drifting up from Indonesia still poses a health risk in three southern Thai provinces, while the threat has eased elsewhere, authorities said on Saturday.
The website of the Pollution Control Department, which tracks air quality, said that as of 4pm on Saturday, poor air quality posed a risk to health in Satun, Songkhla and Pattani provinces.
The smog had thinned a bit in Yala and Narathiwat, where dust particles had exceeded safe levels in the department's earlier report at 9am.
The morning report recorded 128 microgrammes per cubic metre in Satun, 156 in Songkhla and 139 in Pattani. Any reading over 120 is considered unsafe. There was no evening update from the agency.
Burning of large tracts of forest to clear the way for oil palm plantations in Indonesia is an annual occurrence, causing health problems across wide swathes of Southeast Asia.
Authorities from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand make an annual ritual of condemning the practice and Jakarta responds by saying it will get tough with violators. Then the whole process is repeated the following year.
However, the haze this year has been the worst in a decade and Indonesia's neighbours are losing patience.
Indonesia, meanwhile, has put two warships on standby to evacuate people from areas of Kalimantan affected by acrid haze from the fires, which have killed at least 10 people and caused respiratory illnesses in half a million.
In Thailand, eight out of 14 provinces in the southern region — Surat Thani, Phangnga, Phuket, Satun, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat — have been affected by smog from Indonesia, according to the Pollution Control Department. Some other government offices have put Trang and Phattalung on the list as well.
At least there were no flight disruptions for airlines flying to southern airports on Saturday after poor visibility delayed several flights over the past few days.
With more rain forecast to come to the region, Chatchai Promlert, the director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, expressed hope on Saturday that the situation would improve in the days to come.
The Meteorological Department has predicted wet conditions in the South with regular downpours persisting until Friday.
