Phuket officials assure smog is clearing

Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew at a meeting yesterday (Apr 16) said that the unclear air was a natural phenomenon in the summer. 

“It is not a problem of PM 2.5 dust and [he] has ordered the relevant agencies to closely monitor the situation,” said an official report.

Regardless, the Phuket Info Center, operated under the Phuket branch of the ministry of Interior, today posted photos proving otherwise. One image, taken from CCTV, showed heavy smog at 6:30am today, and another posted later showed the headlands at Patong very unclear as seen from Patong Beach at 8:30am.

Governor Narong yesterday recognised the poor air quality had raised concerns among many people, especially regarding PM 2.5 dust. 

“But from checking the data with the Southern Meteorological Center on the west coast, it is known that the weather in Phuket is still in good condition,” he said.

“It is not a problem of PM 2.5 dust at all, but a natural phenomenon in the summer which is about to change into the rainy season,” he added, said the official report.

“Therefore, I do not want people to worry. People can still engage in various outdoor activities due to the condition of the area of Phuket, which will have wind blowing all the time.

“In addition, Phuket is a tourist city and a residential area, not agricultural area, so there isn’t much burning, and no hot spots of concern have been found [on the island], and I have instructed relevant agencies to closely monitor the situation,” Governor Narong continued.

“It is expected that such characteristics and part  of this may be due to climate change,” he said.

Despite his assurances, Governor Narong yesterday himself still urged people with health issues to remain vigilant for ill effects on their health brought on by the smog.

“The health of people at risk such as children, the elderly, pregnant women and patients with congenital diseases in the group of respiratory diseases and cardiovascular disease should be monitored. If there are initial symptoms such as coughing, difficulty breathing, eye irritation, the duration of outdoor activities should be reduced for health care during this period,” he said.

Of note, the official government report of the air quality yesterday presented screenshots from the government-operated Air4Thai air-quality monitoring platform, showing all green and yellow indicators for Phuket.

Air4Thai stands alone in its assessment of Phuket’s recent air quality, with all other major air-quality monitoring platforms, including the Swiss-based IQAir, as presented by the Phuket Info Center this morning, showing red, light red and orange warning indicators for the island.