Recently, a real version of Silent Hill was staged in India, and the air pollution index was truly "off the charts".
After entering a state of emergency due to smog on November 1, the air pollution situation has not improved.
On November 3rd, the air pollution index in New Delhi and its surrounding areas broke the historical record, and the air quality index (AQI) of PM2.5 and PM10 at several observation points were both "off the charts", showing the maximum value of 999.
Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, said that the air quality in northern India has reached an "unbearable" level.
New Delhi – one of the world‘s largest urban agglomerations with a population of nearly 20 million – has been enveloped by extremely hazardous air for the last week。 Pollution levels have reached hazardous levels， with monitoring machines getting maxed out。
Despite the Indian government‘s emergent measure of declaring a public health emergency and halting construction projects on November 1， the Air Quality Index （AQI） at many locations crossed the 999-threshold on November 3， the maximum reading that an air monitoring system can record。
More than 35 flights were diverted and over 500 delayed due to heavy smog affecting visibility in India‘s capital， New Delhi。
“Pollution has reached unbearable levels across north India，” Arvind Kejriwal， Delhi‘s chief minister wrote on Twitter。
This rare air pollution has caused hundreds of planes to be delayed, schools to be closed and construction sites to be shut down. At present, the Indian government has introduced a series of emergency measures to try to alleviate the crisis.
Smog index off the charts "People are dying"
At 4 pm on November 1, the air quality status released by the Central Pollution Control Committee of India showed that the air quality index (AQI) in New Delhi had reached 484, and four of the 38 monitoring stations even reached 500, breaking the historical record of these monitoring points.
On the same day, the New Delhi government announced that the capital entered a "public health emergency", schools were suspended, and heavily polluting industries immediately stopped working.
However, the situation continued to deteriorate in the next two days. At noon on the 3rd, the air quality index (AQI) of PM2.5 and PM10 in New Delhi and surrounding areas both "off the charts": the maximum value of 999 was displayed.
An urban pollution monitoring instrument "off the charts" can’t give an accurate pollution measurement, which is a disaster, an Indian government health official said in an interview with BBC.
According to ABC, this pollution is equivalent to letting local people smoke 33 cigarettes every day.
The national air quality index established in India classifies air quality into six categories, the highest of which is 401-500, which belongs to "serious" pollution, which may "affect the normal breathing of healthy people and cause serious health hazards to people with lung/heart diseases, and people engaged in light manual labor will also have health effects."
Such an influence has already been staged in reality. For example, on November 4th, according to ESPN, two Bangladeshi players vomited during a cricket match in New Delhi, India, due to the severe smog.
Many netizens also showed the severity of this smog in a vivid way-
Residents are using dark humor to vent their frustration and anger against what many are calling “Airpocalypse。”
"Delhi is becoming a gas chamber," said Sachin Taparia, head of local polling company LocalCircles.
The Supreme Court of India said on the 4th that "people are dying, which should not happen in a civilized country."
“Delhi has turned into a gas chamber as the pollution levels hit the severe category，” said Sachin Taparia， head of the Delhi-based private consultancy Local Circles。
“People are dying， this just cannot happen in a civilized country，” said India‘s supreme court judges in a statement on November 4， ordering a complete halt to the practice of burning the field while calling the authorities for more measures to combat the pollution。
"fatal burning"
Why is there such a serious smog in New Delhi? The answer is simple and rude: burning straw.
Crop burning is the major source of blame。
Experts in air quality monitoring and weather forecasting under the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences have previously said that in less than three days, the number of stubble burning points in Punjab and Haryana has increased by 90%. Local farmers say they are forced to burn crop residues because they have no money to buy straw treatment equipment.
In addition, recently it was Diwali in India, and the Indian people set off a lot of fireworks during the festival, which also aggravated the pollution situation.
Every year， farmers in the neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana burn paddy straws to clear their fields。
According to India‘s environment monitoring agency SAFAR， crop burning during the last week has contributed over 40 percent of Delhi’s pollution。 More than 3，000 cases of stubble burning were captured by satellite last week in Delhi’s neighboring states， ABC reported。
Besides， fireworks displayed during Hindu festival of light Diwali also worsened the situation alongside construction dust and vehicle emissions。
New Delhi has a population of about 20 million. Every winter, it encounters smog caused by motor vehicle exhaust, industrial waste gas and the burning of farmland straw in neighboring areas.
This is a long-standing dilemma, and it becomes more and more serious with the acceleration of India’s development. According to a United Nations report, 14 of the 15 most polluted cities in the world in 2018 were in India.
Air pollution?
Indian Health Minister: "Have some carrots"
Just as the Indian people suffering from smog have asked the government to take measures to solve the crisis, the Indian Minister of Health has "found another way" and called on everyone to "eat carrots" on social platforms to fight pollution. The Indian Minister of the Environment also gave his own advice: You might as well listen to music and relax.
While residents struggle to cope with the pollution， Harsh Vardhan， the union minister for health and family welfare suggested via Twitter that people should eat carrots to deal with the pollution。
“Eating carrots helps the body get Vitamin A， potassium， & antioxidants which protect against night blindness common in India。 Carrots also help against other pollution-related harm to health，” the tweet said。
Indian Health Minister Hash vardan tweeted on November 3rd local time, stressing that eating carrots can prevent night blindness and "resist the health hazards related to pollution", and attached a propaganda picture about the nutritional composition of carrots "very considerate".
Once the tweet was sent, it caused great dissatisfaction among the Indian people. Netizens have left messages criticizing the minister’s remarks. Many netizens questioned:
"Is this proposal serious?"
"People are being poisoned, but as the Minister of Health, I suggest that everyone eat carrots?"
More Indian netizens responded strongly:
"Let the Indian people eat carrots to cure diseases, it is better to eat walnuts to make up their brains."
On the same day, prakash Jawadkar, Indian Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, also actively offered suggestions and called on everyone to "start your day with music."
Some netizens imitated the minister’s tweet format and responded with photos of Indian street scenes shrouded in smog:
"Can this song get rid of poisonous gas?"
Prevention and control of pollution in off the charts is imminent.
In order to reduce the adverse effects caused by the increasing air pollution, the local government has ordered all schools to suspend classes until Tuesday, calling on people to stay at home as much as possible; The environmental department also requires all construction sites and other polluting industries to stop work immediately. Since last Friday, the government has distributed masks to about 5 million students in the city. In addition, New Delhi also began to implement the "single and double number" restriction measures for motor vehicles on the 4 th, and ended on the 14 th.
On the 4th, the Supreme Court of India ordered the governments of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in the north to stop burning straw in the fields. The Supreme Court said: "If straw burning happens again, the whole government, from the chief minister to the village head, will be responsible."
In addition, the Supreme Court also asked the central government, Delhi government, Punjab government and Haryana government to come up with plans to prevent long-term pollution.
In order to control emissions， construction work has been suspended， a power plant in Badarpur has seen its operations halted and brick kilns around the city have been closed until November 10。
Schools will remain closed in Delhi and the National Capital Region （NCR） which consists of Gurugram， Noida and Faridabad， for the whole of this week。
The Delhi government has also enforced an “odd-even scheme” for reducing the number of vehicles on the roads。 On specific days， vehicles with registration numbers ending with even or odd numbers will be allowed on the roads on alternating days from Monday onward。
Under the smog, Bollywood stars voiced their questions on social networks: "If Beijing can (control smog), why can’t we?"
Celebrities like Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Lisa Ray posted pictures on Instagram wearing masks， asking “if Beijing can clean its act， why can‘t we？ "
(Some Chinese are integrated from Xinhua News Agency, Observer Network, World Wide Web and China News Network)