The Bangkok Post reported yesterday that southern Thai states of Satun and Pattani were covered with haze. From the sound of it, the haze is still there (tag):
Smog from forest fires in Indonesia has moved across the south now including Pattani on the Gulf of Thailand, Faisol Kasetkala, head of the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office said Tuesday.
In another report by Bangkok Post suggests that the states have already been experiencing haze since July 2 or earlier:
Satun – Thailand’s southern Andaman Sea coastal province of Satun on Sunday remained covered by a blanket of smog, believed to be caused by forest fires in nearby Indonesia.
The provincial public health authorities warned the public to suspend regular outdoor exercise to avoid excessive breathing of the toxins in the atmosphere.
Another report dated July 2 by Bangkok Post states that northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis are suffering minor bout of haze too. And as you can see, Indonesia is the alleged culprit yet again.
As for Kuala Lumpur around 9:15 AM today, from the 35th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers, Tower 2:
I can’t really say for certain if that is really haze since approximately two weeks ago, it was like this:
On a fairly good day, it should be something like this:
Most probably, in the first photo, that is just local smog. I don’t want to see anything worse and I definitely hope that that is not a mere wishful thinking. Despite that, in 2005, I’ve said the haze will return. I had no reason to believe the governments of ASEAN were willing to do anything effective, especially when Indonesian government had proved to be very non-committal to the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution of ASEAN. And so, here we are – possibly – again.
I hope, by the time haze hit Kuala Lumpur, I’d already be in Bangkok, Thailand.
Whatever it is, brace yourself!
p/s – a bad way to start the day. Italy defeated Germany to progress to the final match of the FIFA World Cup. Well, it’s going to be a boring game, that’s for sure.
pp/s – a victory for science:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA gave the shuttle Discovery a majestic Fourth of July send-off and said early signs showed the spacecraft was in good shape, despite once again being struck by the flying foam that has plagued the program.
The first-ever Independence Day manned launch came after two weather delays and over objections from those within NASA who argued for more fuel-tank repairs.
This is the first launch since the Columbia tragedy in 2003.
