Delhi May Have Overtaken Beijing For Top Spot In World's Worst Air Contest
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The Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based environmental advocacy group, says that this winter Delhi’s average daily PM2.5 level — a measurement of very small airborne pollutant particles capable of penetrating deep into the lungs — was 240 micrograms per cu m, whereas in 2013 Beijing’s remained mostly below 250. Also, when Beijing’s PM2.5 reading crossed the 500 mark for the first time this year on Jan. 15, Delhi had already recorded eight such days.
The World Health Organization considers a safe level of PM2.5 to be 25.
For residents of Delhi, the smog causes major transport disruptions, with regular pileups on expressways and mile-long queues on major roads. Trains and flights are delayed for hours or canceled. “I had to wait for six hours at the airport a few weeks back,” says Pranati Chaudhuri, a retired professor who was returning to the capital from Kerala with her ailing husband. “We almost missed a medical appointment.”
More serious though is the health impact. A 2013 study found air pollution to be the fifth largest killer in India, causing more than 600,000 premature deaths — up six times from 2000. The study cited Delhi as one of the major trouble spots. “This year, there’s an unidentified virus going around which affects the lungs,” says one of Delhi’s top pulmonologists, Dr. Vivek Nangia. “These kind of respiratory ailments will only increase if we fail to clean up the city’s air soon.”
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http://world.time.com/2014/02/10/smog-in-new-delhi/
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