It has been a week since the air quality index has regularly exceeded 1,000 in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, while the World Health Organization considers air above 300 “hazardous”.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Islamabad, Sonia Ghezali
Lahore is plunged into thick fog. After a few minutes outside, the nose begins to be irritated, the eyes sting. A few days ago, the second city of Pakistan recorded a concentration of PM2.5 microparticles in the air more than 40 times higher than the level considered acceptable by the World Health Organization. Hospitals have seen the number of patients having difficulty breathing skyrocket since the start of smog, a mixture of fog and polluting emissions.
There are 100% more this month at Shalimar hospital. Fakhar Ul Nisa, aged around thirty, is shaken by coughing fits. “ I’ve had difficulty breathing since the smog started. I sneeze a lot. I spend most of the time in my room. I don’t even go into the yard because it takes my breath away. Now I am thinking of leaving Lahore and returning to my village, because it has become very difficult for me to live here “, she testifies.
On that day, the air quality index was 1,000, well above the threshold considered dangerous by the WHO. Doctor Taha Waqas, pulmonologist, does not hide his deep concern. According to him, no one should leave their home. “ The current air quality index is dangerous, it is toxic. It is equivalent to inhaling more than 40 cigarettes per day », he translates.
Result: in Lahore, primary schools have been closed for a week as a security measure. This weekend the authorities announced that they would also close public spaces, parks, zoos, playgrounds and historical monuments. Citizens were asked to stay indoors, keep doors and windows closed and avoid unnecessary travel, and construction work had been banned in certain areas of the city.
And the situation gets worse every year. The cause: the practice of agricultural burning widespread in the Punjab, but also automobile and industrial pollution, trapped in the fog, particularly in the winter season.