While Pakistan is already reeling from the cataclysmal effects of this year’s monsoon and climate change, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) revealed on Tuesday that the country will soon face its next major environmental challenge — intense smog.
The high moisture levels in the air due to the recent rains and subsequent floods, when combined with the suspended pollutants, are likely to create a heavy smog cover over the plains of Sindh and Punjab in early November and December.
As one of the nations most affected by air pollution, Pakistan bears the loss of around 140,000 lives to air pollution annually, according to experts. Moreover, the next few months could be even more challenging, with the smog adding to the already difficult rescue, relief, and restoration projects.
The News quoted PMD’s Director General (DG), Mahr Sahibzad Khan, as saying that the floods and the extension of the monsoon into the month of September have caused an abundance of moisture in the atmosphere, which is likely to cause excessive smog in the plains of Sindh and Punjab early in November.
The DG mentioned that the PMD has not yet released an official warning but the burning of the residual rice crops at the end of October and the simultaneous drop in temperatures may cause an early smog situation and more intense fog at the end of December and early January.
Dr. Ghulam Rasool, a scientist, and the former DG PMD, also predicted that the winter would bring intense smog and fog, and advised the concerned authorities to take preventive measures as much as possible to prevent air pollution caused by the burning of crop residue and from brick kilns.
Public health expert, Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Health Services Academy in Islamabad, weighed in on the health effects that the smog will have in the next few months and said that it could increase chest infections, pneumonia cases, and allergies among a large segment of people. He also remarked that elderly people should avoid walking in the smog and must wear N95 masks.
