Intense smog, fog next environmental challenge: experts

ISLAMABAD: Intense smog or (smoke plus fog) and fog are the next major environmental challenges Pakistan is going to face in the months ahead as heavy moisture in the atmosphere due to unprecedented rains and floods combined with pollutants may cause intense smog to grip plains of Sindh and Punjab from early November and December this year, meteorological scientists warned on Tuesday.

They said the current year was unprecedented in terms of extreme meteorological events in the history of Pakistan but the next challenge for the country could be early and intense smog conditions in November and heavy fog in December in the plains of Sindh and Punjab.

“Due to floods and extension of monsoon into the month September, there is abundance of moisture available in the atmosphere, which is likely to cause intense smog early in the month of November in the plains of Sindh and Punjab,” Director General, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Mahr Sahibzad Khan told The News in an exclusive interview.

Around 140,000 people are killed annually in Pakistan due to air pollution, experts believe as Pakistan is one of the top countries after China and India where highest number of deaths occur due to complications resulting from air pollution as millions of people are compelled to breather highly toxic air.

Khan said they had not yet issued any warning regarding early onset of smog in the country, but added that with the drop in temperature and burning of rice crop residue by the end of October and early November, they feared intense smog in the plains of Sindh and Punjab. “Moisture in the atmosphere and level of air pollution that is likely to increase in the last weeks of October and early November would be the cause of intense smog in the plains of the country. Intense fog would be followed by heavy fog in the months of December and January with drop in the temperature in the plains,” the DG Met said.

Scientist and former director general PMD Dr Ghulam Rasool also predicted intense smog and fog in the winter season and advised the authorities to take preventive measures as much as possible to prevent air pollution through burning of crop residue and brick kilns. Commenting on the health effects of smog in the months ahead, public health expert Dr Shahzad Ali Khan said smog could increase the incidence of chest infections, pneumonia and allergies among a large segment of people and advised elderly people to avoid walking in the smog and must use N95 masks to save themselves,” Dr Khan, who is the vice chancellor of the Health Services Academy Islamabad, added.