バンコク、大気汚染悪化で在宅勤務要請

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】タイの首都バンコクのチャッチャート・シッティパン都知事は１４日、大気汚染が悪化したため１５、１６両日について、在宅勤務を要請した。（写真は大気汚染でかすむタイ・バンコク）
　世界の大気汚染を監視するウェブサイト「ＩＱエア（ＩＱＡｉｒ）」によると、人口約１１００万人のバンコクは１５日午前、世界で最も汚染された都市ランキングの上位１０位以内に入った。
　微小粒子状物質（ＰＭ２．５）濃度は、世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）の定める安全基準の１５倍となった。
　チャッチャート知事は、都の公務員は１５、１６両日は在宅勤務するよう指示。都内のネットワークに含まれる１５１の企業・団体、政府機関や民間部門にも協力を求めた。これにより、６万人以上が影響を受けるとしている。
　同知事によると、市内５０区のうち少なくとも２０区で、ＰＭ２．５が健康に悪影響がある水準になるとみられる。
　タイの大気汚染は、焼き畑、工場や事業場からの排出、車両の排ガスなどが原因で、年初の数か月に悪化する。
　昨年はバンコクのほか、北部チェンマイが、世界で最も汚染された都市ランキングに何日もランクインした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/15-18:16）

Bangkok city employees have been told to work from home to avoid harmful air pollution, as a layer of noxious haze blanketed the Thai capital on Thursday.
City authorities asked for cooperation from employers to help workers in the city of about 11 million people avoid the pollution, which is expected to last into Friday.
The air monitoring website IQAir ranked Bangkok among the 10 most polluted cities in the world on Thursday morning.
Levels of the most dangerous PM2.5 particles -- so tiny they can enter the bloodstream -- were more than 15 times the World Health Organization's annual guideline, according to IQAir.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said late Wednesday that all city employees would work from home on Thursday and Friday.
I would like to ask for cooperation from the BMA network of about 151 companies and organisations, both government offices and the private sector, he said in a statement, adding that more than 60,000 people were affected.
BMA is an abbreviation for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Chadchart said at least 20 of Bangkok's 50 districts were expected to have unhealthy levels of PM2.5 particles, and the problem would linger because of calm weather.
Air quality in Thailand regularly plummets in the early months of the year as smoke from farmers burning stubble in the fields adds to industrial emissions and vehicle exhaust fumes.
Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai ranked among the most polluted cities in the world on a number of days last year.
For many Bangkok residents, working from home is not an option.
Jarukit Singkomron, 57, a motorcycle taxi driver on one of the capital's busiest streets, was working despite his allergic reaction to the pollution.
If I stay home, then I will starve, he told AFP. People like me have to go out to make ends meet.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin held talks on Thursday with officials at the environment and natural resources ministry on tackling PM2.5 levels.
We have a lot of problems with pollution at the moment, so we have to act immediately to reduce the effects on people, Srettha told reporters.
He said that around 25 percent of pollution in Bangkok comes from vehicles, and in the longer term, restricting high-polluting diesel cars could be an option, along with measures to promote electric vehicles.
A public health crisis is brewing over the problem, with at least two million people in Thailand needing medical treatment because of pollution in 2023.
Srettha's government, which took over in August, has promised to make tackling air pollution a national agenda, and a draft Clean Air Act was endorsed by his cabinet last month.
But the problem persists, and a court in Chiang Mai last month ordered the government to come up with an urgent plan to tackle air pollution within 90 days.