Thick air pollution blankets Hanoi, obscuring buildings and leaving nine million residents choking on toxic air (Nhac NGUYEN)
Nhac NGUYEN/AFP/AFP
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Vietnam's capital is covered in toxic pollution
A thick layer of smoke blanketed Hanoi on Friday, obscuring buildings and leaving nine million residents choking on toxic air as the Vietnamese capital topped a list of the world's most polluted major cities.
Authorities urged people to wear masks and limit time outdoors, but commuters told AFP they were struggling to breathe amid the putrid smoke that is now a feature of the city's winter months.
According to IQAir, levels of PM2.5 pollutants - cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs - reached 227 micrograms per cubic meter, 15 times the maximum daily average exposure recommended by the World Health Organization.
Hanoi topped the Swiss monitoring company's ranking of the world's most polluted major cities during the morning before falling again.
The city was ranked among the 10 most polluted capitals in the world by IQAir in 2023.
Tran Quynh Lan, an office worker, told AFP that her struggle to breathe through the noxious haze while commuting by motorcycle had forced her to switch to buses and cabs despite the higher cost.
“The air quality has been so bad that I don't feel I can breathe easily outdoors. I have to wear masks all the time,” she said.
The WHO says several serious health conditions are linked to exposure to air pollution, including strokes, heart disease, and lung cancer.
Experts say the pollution in Hanoi is the result of widespread construction, as well as emissions from the large number of motorcycles and cars that crisscross the capital every day.
Carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants in the north and agricultural burning exacerbate the problem.
“The source of pollution emissions changes little every day,” said climate expert Huy Nguyen.
Due to the current unfavorable weather conditions, “pollutants seem to be trapped in a giant atmospheric glass cage from which they cannot escape, and they accumulate day after day,” Huy told AFP.
He said that Hanoi residents need to “wait for a strong northeast monsoon with rain and strong convection” for the pollution situation to improve.
Normally, the rains don't reach the city until March.
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