Delhi is choking, and the people, especially children, the elderly and patients, are dying a slow death. The air of Delhi is polluted to the level that even a non-smoker inhales smoke worth at least 50 cigarettes daily. With this pace, Delhi is not far from making a record of the highest number of chronic patients per 1,000 residents.
OpIndia decided to compare the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi to locations that should have the worst AQI, such as war zones. Virtually, Delhi is, in fact, a war zone in terms of health crisis.
As has been the trend for several years, the courts and several governments have already imposed restrictions on firecrackers during Diwali in the name of curbing pollution. However, data show that the air quality in Delhi is much worse than in actual war zones, where real bombs go off in rapid succession.
We analysed three war zones that fall in the Russia-Ukraine War and the Israel-Hamar War. Furthermore, We looked for the air quality of the three most recent wildfires and three most recent volcanic eruptions to see how AQI stands in such locations. We used IQAIR for the data.
Effect of wars on AQI
First of all, let’s talk about the Russia-Ukraine war. Throughout 2022, the majority of the cities in war-hit Ukraine remained within the limits prescribed by the World Health Organisation. There was a marginal increase in several cities during February and March 2022 when the Russian attack hit those cities. However, the current situation in Ukraine is fairly normal.
In the case of the Israel-Hamas war, The AQI went beyond 100 several times in the last month in Tel Aviv, Israel, but it still hasn’t crossed the 150 mark. It is interesting to see most of the stations recording AQI in Israel showed a minimal spike in the AQI index.
Effect of volcano eruption on AQI
In December 2022, Sumeru Volcano erupted in East Java, Indonesia. The country already has one of the worst AQIs in the world, but surprisingly, December 2022 was less polluted than January, February, April, June, September and November 2022.
Effect of wildfire on AQI
There is an ongoing wildfire in Waynesville, North Carolina, USA, but that, too, hasn’t drastically changed the AQI of the region. Currently, it is close to 100.
Delhi is worse than a war zone, with volcano eruptions and wildfires
If we look at the one-month graph of Delhi, From 10th October, the AQI started at 168, which is unhealthy. For the last five days, the AQI average of Delhi is 483 on 459 on 5th November, 335 on 6th November, 380 on 7th November, 351 on 8th November and 459 on 9th November. Speaking about the worst AQI, Sonia Vihar today has 615 AQI as of 9th November.
Wars, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires could not create the gas chamber that the stubble burning and other factors have created in Delhi NCR. Interestingly, courts, intellectuals, activists, celebrities and governments blame the Hindu festival Diwali for the pollution every year. However, Diwali is yet to be celebrated this year, and all the regions have already become gas chambers. While Delhi’s ruling party, Aam Aadmi Party, is busy finding faults in neighbouring states except for Punjab, the farmers of Punjab have caused 2,000 new fire incidents in the state, adding more to the pollution for the coming days. AAP rules both Delhi and Punjab. Before gaining power in Punjab, AAP kept blaming the Congress government in Punjab for the pollution in Delhi.
Now, they have entirely whitewashed Punjab’s role and started blaming Haryana and the central government for the pollution. Even after the directions of the Supreme Court, Punjab has failed to stop the farmers from burning stubble. Last year, CM Bhagwant Mann promised his government would completely stop stubble burning by 2023, but he failed miserably, and the people of Delhi are paying the price.
Maybe the people of Delhi should consider moving to someplace which is in a war zone, or faces wildfires and volcanic eruptions. At least they will breathe fresher air.
(The article was published on Opindia.com on November 09, 2023 and has been reproduced here)
