H5N1

Australia fires: Victoria issued code red bushfire warning amid thunderstorm asthma threat

Via The Guardian, a report by the Australian Associated Press: Australia fires: Victoria issued code red bushfire warning amid thunderstorm asthma threat. Excerpt:

Victoria is under a total fire ban on Thursday as temperatures top 40C in the state’s north, and thunderstorm asthma could also put lives at risk, while South Australian residents on the Yorke Peninsula brace for a wind change that could threaten homes and lives. 

Victorians facing code red bushfire conditions were told their houses were not built to withstand the conditions and they should get to major cities if they could.  

Temperatures were forecast to stay well over 40C in the state’s north, and strong northerly winds put the Mallee and the Northern Country districts on a code red alert.

Conditions would be milder in the rest of the state, but fire danger ratings were listed as severe or very high, while temperatures were close to all-time November highs, with Melbourne forecast at 39C on Thursday. 

A total fire ban was issued statewide, but the worst conditions were in the state’s north. 

Code red signals the worst possible bushfire conditions and the safest place to be was away from high-risk fire areas within those districts, the Country Fire Association advised. 

“Our community members should be prepared for fire, and know where to get information to make good decisions about your safety,” the emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, said on Wednesday.  

“Given fires could start and move quickly, you won’t always receive a warning or be told what to do if a fire starts.”  

On Thursday, Crisp also warned that a southerly change expected to hit Victoria in the afternoon could potentially make conditions more difficult for firefighters and there was a chance dry lightning could spark fires. 

All public parks in the code red areas would be closed, and some schools and early childhood centres would be closed.  

“Homes are not built to withstand the types of fires we may see on a code red day and you don’t want to be caught travelling through areas on fire at the last minute if you wait and see,” the CFA chief officer Steve Warrington said. 

Along with possible bushfires, the National Asthma Council Australia forecast Thursday’s pollen count in Victoria as “extreme”. 

The alert coincided with the third anniversary of the epidemic thunderstorm asthma event, which claimed 10 lives on 21 November 2016.

Schools closed in New Delhi as air quality dips for third day

Via The Globe and Mail, an Associated Press report: Schools closed in New Delhi as air quality dips for third day. Excerpt:

Schools in India’s capital were shut on Thursday and remain closed on Friday after a thick haze of noxious air enveloped the city for a third consecutive day, and angry residents blamed authorities for holding an annual children’s race. 

Buildings and monuments were largely obscured by smog and an official health advisory urged people to avoid all physical activity outdoors.  

The air quality index exceeded 460, nine times the level recommended by the World Health Organization, according to the state-run Central Pollution Control Board. In some places, the index crossed the 500 level. 

Still, hundreds of children took part Thursday in the annual Run for Children race organized by a non-profit group called Prayas. 

Residents took to social media and blamed authorities for allowing the run after pictures were shared of children without protective masks.  

The event was organized to mark the birthday of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which is celebrated as Children’s Day in India. 

“It was a symbolic event and children didn’t run beyond 200 metres,” organizer Amod Kanth said. 

Mr. Kanth said the organization had permission from the authorities and he was not directed to cancel the event. 

Many decried the rising pollution levels and said the government is not doing enough.  

New Delhi is one of the world’s most polluted cities, and winters have become a time of annual health woes when the city is covered in a toxic haze that obscures the sky and blocks sunlight.

Doctors in the city of 20 million people say many of their patients are complaining of ailments related to the filthy air. 

Air pollution in northern India, including New Delhi, peaks from smoke from agricultural fires in neighbouring Haryana and Punjab states, which mixes with the city’s vehicle emissions and construction dust.  

Authorities have resorted to emergency measures such as banning construction, reducing traffic and prohibiting the use of diesel generators. But the steps have had little effect because state governments have failed to co-operate in tackling pollution.

As of 9:00 p.m. Friday, local time, Delhi's AQI stations report numbers ranging from the high 200s (Very Unhealthy) to 639 (Hazardous). 

Krugman on the human cost of air pollution

Well, this is a first: blogging economist Paul Krugman on a major public health issue. Via The New York Times: Trump and His Party of Pollution. Excerpt:

Given what we’ve seen in the impeachment hearings so far, there is literally no crime, no abuse of power, that would induce Republicans to turn on President Trump. So if you’re waiting for some dramatic political turn, don’t hold your breath.  

On second thought, however, maybe you should hold your breath. For air quality has deteriorated significantly over the past few years — a deterioration that has already cost thousands of American lives. And if Trump remains in power, the air will get much worse, and the death toll rise dramatically, in the years ahead.  

The story so far: When I talk about air pollution, I don’t mean the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change, which pose a long-term existential threat. I’m talking instead about pollutants that have a much more immediate effect, especially “fine particulate matter,” small particles that make the air hazy and can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract. The health hazards of these particles have been documented by many studies.  

The good news until a few years ago was that thanks to environmental regulation the concentration of fine particulates was in fairly rapid decline. The bad news is that since 2016 this kind of pollution has been on the rise again, reversing around a fifth of the gains since 2009.

A study documenting this reversal suggests multiple causes, including wildfires (themselves caused in part by climate change), increased driving and reduced enforcement. The study also finds, using well-established results on the health effects of pollution, that even this seemingly small rise in particulates led to almost 10,000 extra deaths last year.  

To put this number in context, it may be helpful to remember that Trump began his presidency by talking about “American carnage,” portraying a nation awash in violent crime. In reality, crime was and is near historic lows. To the extent that anything was behind his rant, it lay in a modest (and temporary) uptick in homicides from around 14,000 in 2014 to 17,000 in 2016. 

The point is that the Trump-era death toll from worsening air is already several times as large as the “carnage” Trump decried. 

It seems crass to point this out, but the economic cost of rising pollution is also large; the study puts it at $89 billion a year. This is a pretty big number, even in an economy as large as America’s, and it means that economic growth under Trump, properly measured, has been significantly slower than standard numbers suggest.  

And things are poised to get much worse. The Trump administration is working on new rules that would effectively prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from making use of much of the scientific evidence on adverse health effects of pollution. This would cripple environmental regulation, almost surely leading to sharply worsening air and water quality over time.

We don’t know exactly how this will play out, but it seems safe to say that if Trump stays in office, a lot more Americans will die as a result of his anti-environmental policies than the total number who are murdered, let alone murdered by the immigrants Trump loves to portray as a menacing, dark-skinned horde.

Indonesian forest fires raise concerns about health

Via The Lancet: Indonesian forest fires raise concerns about health. Excerpt:

Aldo Triwibowo, a reporter from Borneo, has been darting in and out of smoke from Indonesia's forest fires for much of the year. He often inhales bottled oxygen so that he can keep covering the story. But when he noticed that his 2-year-old daughter had started coughing, he became scared. Her symptoms were just like those of another child exposed to the smoke who he had heard about, who had later died. 

His wife Hedwig was also gasping for breath. After he rushed his family to one of the local so-called oxygen rooms, hastily organised air-conditioned rooms with bottled oxygen on hand in hospitals and clinics around the city of Palangkaraya, the nurse found that Hedwig's blood oxygen concentration was low. 

“From the morning, smoke came into our house and it didn't go out again”, Triwibowo told The Lancet. “She [Hedwig] complained that she was having difficulty breathing. It got worse.” 

After a brief stay in the oxygen room and a short dose of antibiotics for both mother and child, Triwibowo sent his family far away from the smoke, to their home town on the distant island of Flores. Triwibowo was in a better position than most. Many people in Central Kalimantan province, one of the worst affected by this year's fires, are farmers or labourers on palm oil plantations, for whom moving away is not affordable. 

Indonesia has forest fires every year, typically during the dry season between June and October. The worst in recent decades was in 2015, but the fires this year are still larger than usual, blanketing large parts of Borneo and Sumatra in thick clouds of foul-smelling smoke for weeks. Across Indonesia, more than 850 000 hectares (2·1 million acres) of forest had burned as of the end of September this year, according to figures from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. 

In Borneo, the worst-hit area, the Indonesian Government has tried water bombing, cloud seeding with salt, and mobilising the army and police to halt the fires. The only thing that finally worked was a change in the weather: the beginning of the rainy season in October started to dampen fires that had burned in dried out peat beds for weeks. In Sumatra, many fires have continued burning and, last month, children in the city of Palembang were sent home from school. The smoke has drifted to Singapore and Malaysia, where it is euphemistically referred to as haze. Both countries have issued daily health warnings about the levels of the smoke, urging those who might be affected to stay indoors when it is at its worst. 

In Palangkaraya, people had been seeking safety in the oxygen rooms for months, increasing their blood oxygen concentrations by inhaling bottled oxygen. Face masks to keep out soot ran out. Cases of pneumonia, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease peaked, and local doctors say that some people have died from the fires.

Delhi residents engulfed in pollution blame authorities for inaction

Via The Guardian: Delhi residents engulfed in pollution blame authorities for inaction. Excerpt:

It was meant to be a ceremony to bring good health and prosperity. But the thousands of women who gathered in the waters of Delhi’s Yamuna River on the city’s most polluted day in three years, to mark the ancient Hindu festival of Chhath Puja, instead had to immerse themselves in the thick toxic waste, while inhaling air so thick with smog that it went off the pollution charts. 

Sunita Devi, 42, was among those who offered prayers as she stood in the toxic foam of the Yamuna, so thick and frothy from industrial and domestic pollution it made the water resemble a putrid bubble bath. The irony that this was a ritual meant to give thanks to the sun god for sustaining life on earth was not lost on her. 

“I stood for an hour in the water to offer prayers but it was very oily, dirty and had a bad smell,” said Devi. “According to the ritual we are supposed to bathe in the water but I could not bring myself to do it fully, though my friends took a full dip even with the smell. My legs were itching after a while and I had to go home and take a bath.” 

Living in the world’s most polluted city has taken a toll on almost every one of its 20 million citizens, especially since the Hindu festival of Diwali, which prompted a severe deterioration in air quality. As the air pollution levels reached catastrophic levels – almost 10 times above the healthy limit on the weekend – a public health emergency was declared and has remained in place for the past five days. The streets have emptied, schools remained closed and many did not go in to work on Monday morning as the air quality index remained stubbornly in the category of “severe”.

Monday also saw the temporary introduction of a scheme, which ran previously in 2016, where cars with odd and even number plates can only drive on alternate days, which authorities say will take 1.2m cars off Delhi’s roads each day. However, most in the city were highly sceptical about the plan, which will only be in place for two weeks. 

“They did this scheme twice before and it is pointless,” said Amit, a driver. “I am not supposed to be taking my car out today but I am just taking the back roads and short cuts to avoid the traffic officers. All the other drivers I know are doing the same. Yes pollution is a terrible problem, I have had an awful chest infection for the past two days because of it, but this temporary scheme is not going to change anything. We need real action from the government.”

Delhi smog continues at 'hazardous' levels

Here's the Mandir Marg, Delhi, Delhi Air Pollution: Real-time Air Quality Index, update at 5:00 a.m. Monday Delhi time. Note the number of stations reporting readings in the 700s and 800s, before the working day has really started. 

This is a public health disaster happening in a megacity of almost 30 million people, and happening also in other North Indian cities. 

Please Lord Indra, stop blaming stubble burning: BJP leader on rising pollution

Via the Deccan Chronicle: Please Lord Indra, stop blaming stubble burning: BJP leader on rising pollution.

Lucknow: A BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday advised the government to perform yajnas to please rain god Lord Indra as many parts of northern India have been battling high pollution levels due to stubble burning and bursting of crackers on Diwali.  

Sunil Bharala, the chairman of the state Labour Welfare Council, said stubble burning is an "age-old practice".   

A Supreme Court mandated panel on Friday declared a public health emergency in the Delhi-National Capital Region and banned construction activity till November 5 as pollution levels have entered the "severe plus" category. 

According to official figures, the pollution levels in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and Patna in Bihar were worse than in Delhi on Saturday. 

He said, "The government should perform yajnas to please Lord Indra. He will set everything right". Barla said sprinkling water by helicopters will not end pollution, rather "we must seek divine intervention". 

To back his argument, Bharala said, "It was around 1991-92, when there were no rains in Meerut and nearby areas, a community yajna of 40-50 villages was held and as soon as it was over, rains started". 

He said holding farmers responsible for the spike in pollution levels was "unfortunate". "Stubble burning has always been done, since those items burnt are waste material. It is a natural system practised by farmers. The attack on farmers over this is very unfortunate," he said. 

Responding to those who were questioning the scientificity of his statement, Bharala said, "It is their thought and way of thinking. They do not follow the Hindu dharam and its culture. They do not believe in scientific ways nor do they believe in yajnas." 

Thirteen cities of the country had an average Air Quality Index (AQI) above 400, which falls in "severe" category, with seven of them in Uttar Pradesh, five in Haryana and one in Bihar, according to the Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) Saturday 4-pm bulletin. 

According to the bulletin, the average AQI in Delhi was 399. During the same period, Fatehabad recorded the worst average AQI at 493, while it was 428 in Patna and 422 in Lucknow.  

In Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad had the worst average AQI of 453, followed by Bulandshahr (446), Hapur (444), Greater Noida (438), Baghpat (435), Noida (432), Lucknow (422), Kanpur (379), Meerut (371) and Varanasi (328), the CPCB data showed.

Five million pollution masks to be handed to Delhi residents

As of 4:00 a.m. Sunday, the Delhi AQI stations all reported Hazardous levels, with most in the 600s; one was at 969 and another at 784. 

Via The Guardian: Five million pollution masks to be handed to Delhi residents. Evidently this health disaster originates in a cultural celebration. Excerpt and then a comment:

The residents of Delhi have already begun to forget what it is like to wake up and see the sky. 

Almost a week on from Diwali, the thick brown smog that shrouded the city after the festival has showed no sign of shifting. On Friday, as the air became poison and 20 million people struggled to breathe, a public health emergency was declared, with Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal declaring the city had turned into a “gas chamber”. 

Sachin Mathur, 31, an auto rickshaw driver in north-west Delhi, said he was forced to stay outside for work but had been struggling to breathe as he went about his day, and could barely keep his eyes open on the roads because the pollution made his eyes tear and sting.

“I have been driving auto on Delhi roads for last three years and every year this time after Diwali Delhi becomes like this,” Mathur said. “I am suffering from a throat infection and my eyes are burning. The pollution means I do not get many passengers, so going to a doctor is not affordable.”  

The air pollution crisis is now an annual tradition in Delhi at this time of year, thanks to a toxic mixture of smoke from celebration firecrackers combined with the farmers in the neighbouring regions of Punjab and Haryana burning their crop stubble and a cold shift in the temperature locking in the fumes.  

But despite promises that new laws and regulations, including the banning of firecrackers, would keep the air cleaner, the air quality index soared to above 500 this week, levels 20 times higher than those deemed healthy by the World Health Organization.

Wind brings down pollution levels in Delhi, still in 'severe' category

Via The Times of India: Delhi pollution level today: Wind brings down pollution levels in Delhi, still in 'severe' category. Excerpt and then a comment:

NEW DELHI: Pollution levels in Delhi and neighbouring cities dropped marginally on Saturday with a slight increase in the wind speed, a day after the region recorded its worst air quality forcing authorities to shut schools, ban all construction activities and declare a public health emergency. 

The city's overall air quality index (AQI) stood at 407 at 10am. It was 484 at 4pm on Friday, according to official data.

This report was posted just after midnight on Sunday morning; the screen shot above shows the AQI at 8:00 p.m. Saturday night, four hours earlier.

Meanwhile, we have an air quality alert in Vancouver as well, thanks to a stagnant air mass that's given us cold, sunny days for a week: at Second Narrows, not far from where I live, air quality is currently 17.

India: Millions of masks distributed to students in 'gas chamber' Delhi

Via BBC News: Millions of masks distributed to students in 'gas chamber' Delhi. Excerpt and then a comment:

Five million masks are being distributed at schools in India's capital, Delhi, after pollution made the air so toxic officials were forced to declare a public health emergency. 

A Supreme Court-mandated panel imposed several restrictions in the city and two neighbouring states, as air quality deteriorated to "severe" levels. 

Dangerous particulate levels in the air are about 20 times the WHO maximum.  

The city's schools have also been closed until at least next Tuesday. 

All construction has been halted for a week and fireworks have been banned. From Monday, the city will introduce a temporary scheme so that only cars with odd or even numbered licence plates can drive on given days, in a bid to cut traffic pollution. 

Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the city had been turned into a "gas chamber".  

The masks are being handed out to students and their parents, and Mr Kejriwal has asked people to use them as much as possible.  

The levels of tiny particulate matter (known as PM2.5) that enter deep into the lungs are 533 micrograms per cubic metre in the city. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the PM2.5 levels should not be more than 25 micrograms per cubic metre on average in 24 hours.

As of 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning, the Delhi Air Quality Index for Mandir Marg is at 242 (Very Unhealthy). A few other sites are in the 300s and 400s; most are in the 200s. And this in the middle of the night.