For weeks now, most of the friends and families I know have had a cough of some kind. The pollution in the dry season in Thailand has long been a problem.
But recently, it’s reached dangerous and deeply worrying levels.
Bangkok was the fourth most polluted city in the world this month. Across 31 districts 352 schools were also closed because of pollution.
For weeks, I’ve had to rush my children into school with masks on, as the cheery teachers apologetically declare: “Pollution day so straight into class please.”
I like to go running with my son before school. But these days we’ve had to check the air quality index before we venture out.
Unfortunately, there have been plenty of mornings when the red bar appears, the screen reads, “very unhealthy” and we have to stay in.
It’s not a ritual I ever imagined having to go through with my kids in an era when governments know full well the dangers of pollutants and have the technology and know-how to reduce it.
A woman in Bangkok amid high levels of air pollution. Pic: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha
Pollution is linked to the deaths of 100 children under five daily in South East Asia and the Pacific, according to a report this week by UNICEF.
This when clean air should be a universal right.
I’ve started to really worry about what living in Bangkok and many other parts of Thailand is doing to little lungs long term.
You can feel the smog in the back of your throat and sometimes, you can see the haze. But other days it’s hidden – a silent killer.
The ‘rainmaker’ plane dumping water over parts of polluted Thailand
‘Rainmaker’
The Thai government hopes a plane that’s become…
