Lahore Records The Highest Air Pollution In History: Residents Asked To Stay Home, Schools Closed

Air pollution in Pakistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Yousufmalik555)

JAKARTA - Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city to record unprecedented levels of air pollution, made it authorized to take emergency action on Sunday, including removing orders to work from home and closing elementary schools.

The city occupied the top spot on the list of most polluted cities in the world on Sunday after recording its all-time high pollution rate, 1900 near the Pakistan-India border on Saturday, based on data released by the provincial and Swiss governments IQAir, reported by Reuters November 4.

Pemerintah telah menutup sekolah dasar selama setempat, menyarankan orang tua untuk memastikan anak-anak mengenakan masker, kata Menteri Senior SECara Marriyum Aurangzeb selama konferensi pers, saat suci sipam kebalam kota tersebut.

Residents were urged to stay indoors, close doors and windows, and avoid unnecessary travel, he said, adding that hospitals had been given a pollution measuring device.

"To reduce vehicle pollution, 50 percent of office employees will work from home," said Aurangzeb.

The government has also imposed a ban on three-wheeled vehicles known as rickshaws and halted development in certain areas to reduce pollution levels. Factories and construction sites that fail to comply with these regulations can be closed, he said.

Aurangzeb described the situation as "unexpected" and attributed the decline in air quality to the winds that carry pollution from neighboring India.

"This cannot be resolved without talks with India," he said, adding the provincial government would start talks with its neighbors through Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The smog crisis in Lahore, similar to the situation in India's capital News Delhi, tends to worsen over cooler months due to temperature inversions that trap pollution closer to the ground.