How environment is catching up on us

 Only a few weeks back we saw Delhi filled with smog. The city woke up to disaster blanket of smog with a severe drop in air quality. Despite the ban on the firecrackers pre-Diwali, the air quality was poor. Since we are past Diwali celebrations, the air quality by the standards of Meteorological Department has been still very poor. The main cause was crop burning in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Air pollution in India is increasing day by day; all the measures fail to perceive the harm we have been causing to our environment.

Smog is a type of air pollution which is a mixture of smoke and fog which creates smoky air. It gets hard to breathe due to excessive harmful gases such as nitrous oxides, Sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide, smoke, radioactive particles, etc. Coal emissions, vehicles carbon emissions, forest and agricultural fires etc. are some of the reasons for high levels of smog in the capital. This isn’t the first time our Capital has been hit by smog; this is the second time in this year where the air quality has deteriorated to a level where it was difficult to breathe and survive. The exposure has harmful outcomes such as a cough, irritation in the chest, asthma, lung damage etc.

The other environmental shakeup was the cyclone which hit Mumbai and parts surrounding it. The cyclone storm Ockhi was predicted to hit areas of Mumbai, parts of Konkan districts of Maharashtra, and parts of South Gujarat which included Valsad, Surat, Navsari, Daman, and Bharuch were expected to hit with severe rainfall and cyclonic storm. The National Disaster Management Authority of India forecasted the weather will be heavy rainfall and cyclonic storm. The unseasonal showers lashed in Mumbai, as a result of cyclone Ockhi in the Arabian Sea. The fishermen were advised not to venture into the sea off the Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts.

As a preventive measure, citizens should be prepared for the worst in environmental disasters:

1. Be prepared to help each other at such events. People may not be able to reach their respective destination, helping them with shelter, food will be of great help.

2. Stock up food items with extended shelf life, also store candles, torchlight. It can be beneficial in case of lights out.

3. Charge up phones, torchlight, in case of lights out.

4. Ensure friends and family are safe.

5. If you are caught in the environmental disaster, try to reach a help center or a place where you can be safe till everything settles down.

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