Air becomes ‘extremely unhealthy’ in Bangladesh cities during winter

“They were digging the street beside your house. Sand was piled up on the other side. You are choked with dust when the wind blows. Layers of dust gather in your room if the windows are left open. The tree beside the street is like a metal sculpture.”

Moinul Hoque Chowdhuryand Faysal Atikbdnews24.com
Published : 6 Feb 2016, 03:43 AM
Updated : 6 Feb 2016, 04:05 AM

It’s how Department of Environment’s Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) project Director SM Manzurul Hannan Khan describes the winter in Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka.

Not only in Dhaka, the level of harmful particles in the air increases in adjacent Gazipur and Narayanganj, and Chittagong, Barisal, Khulna and Rajshahi, making the air ‘extremely unhealthy’ on most days in the winter.

Citizens, mostly children and elders, suffer from cold-related diseases and lesions in throats. 

Khan says air quality is worst in winter while the cities experience ‘comparatively better’ air during the rainy season.

The CASE project calculated the amount of particulate matters in the air at 11 places in Bangladesh.

The experts call air quality of an area ‘good’ when it earns less than 50 points in the Air Quality Index (AQI), a relative measure of the amount of air pollution.

The standard varies by country.

In Bangladesh the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants - Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone (O3).

The other levels in AQI are Moderate (51-100), Caution (101-150), Unhealthy (151-200), Very Unhealthy (201-300), and Extremely Unhealthy (301-500).

According to CASE data, the air was extremely unhealthy in Dhaka (403 points in AQI), Narayanganj (420), Gazipur (374), Chittagong (334), Rajshahi (347), and Barisal (402). The index was at 225 or very unhealthy level in Sylhet.

The levels did not change on the following day, and not even by the end of the winter on Jan 18.

The levels had been ‘good’ in all the cities onJuly 26 during the rainy season last year.

Khan said there was no alternative to raising awareness against dark smoke emitted from vehicles and air pollution through construction.

Black smoke billowing into the sky from a brick kiln in Narayanganj's Radhanagar. Photo: asif mahmud ove

Geriatrics doctor Mahbuba Akter Arju said masks can be used to cut the amount of dust people inhale.

Besides, spraying water on the streets will also help, she said.

Dhaka South City Corporation official Abdullah Harun said water is being sprayed at some VIP points.

Dhaka North official Tareque Bin Yusuf said they were yet to take any such step.

“The Department of Environment or other related authorities have not conveyed us anything,” he said.