Air Pollution Forces Delhi Schools To Close For 2nd Time In 2 Weeks

[hatrack]

Sumit Kumar, 15, lays in a bed at India’s National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases in Delhi, 14 November 2019, where he has been receiving treatment for a lung infection, while his mother mother Seema Kumari keeps him company. Dangerous air pollution in India forced Delhi schools to close for the second time in two weeks. Photo: Arshad R. Zargar / CBS

The air pollution in India’s capital got so bad again this week that the government was forced to close schools. It was the second time in two weeks. The air has been choked with a concentration of noxious pollutants about 10-times higher than what’s considered safe by the World Health Organization.

The smog is so thick and the levels of toxins so high that it’s a health threat not just for children, the elderly and those with underlying health problems, but for every single person exposed to the deadly air. India’s pollution control authority ordered all schools in Delhi and its suburbs shuttered on both Thursday and Friday. All industries running on coal and other fossil fuels were also asked to stay closed.

The timing this week was poignant. Children in the capital were stuck at home on November 14, celebrated every year in India as “Children’s Day.”


Air pollution in Delhi reached hazardous levels on 15 November 2019, forcing Delhi schools to close for the second time in two weeks. Graphic: AQICN

Some students wrote open letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that were picked up by Indian media. “I used to enjoy soccer earlier but now I can only enjoy it on TV,” student Ishan Mahant said in his letter to the country’s leader. “I cannot play outside because the air is too toxic to breathe.”

The government was to decide on Monday whether to extend the two-week car rationing system that was put in place to halve the number of vehicles on Delhi’s roads. The weekday restrictions, which allow cars with odd and even number license plates on the roads only on alternating days, were implemented when the pollution first spiked to record levels about 10 days ago.

EDIT

https://desdemonadespair.net/2019/11/dangerous-air-pollution-in-india-forces-delhi-schools-to-close-for-2nd-time-in-2-weeks-i-cannot-play-outside-because-the-air-is-too-toxic-to-breathe.html

[BigmanPigman]

1. How much pollution does India and China

produce compared to the US? What are the top polluting countries at this time?