Dust concentration in Ahvaz reaches record 60 times the permissible limit
The level of dust pollutants in the air of Ahvaz city reached 9,000 micrograms per cubic meter on Tuesday, February 14, by 2:00 PM local time, which is 60 times the permissible limit.
Ahvaz is covered in dust and none of the officials are taking responsibility for this situation. Many people have resorted to praying for rain in this city, perhaps as a way of salvation from this devastating dust.
Hospitals are on alert. The Crisis Management Headquarters announced on Monday (February 12) that schools and higher education centers in 27 cities in Khuzestan will be closed starting Tuesday, and the deputy governor of Khuzestan also emphasized the need to be prepared for power outages caused by the dust phenomenon.
Shahriar Askari, Public Relations Director of the Khuzestan Environmental Protection Department, in an interview with ISNA News Agency, said regarding the amount of dust pollutants in the city of Ahvaz that given that "the permissible limit of pollutants in the air is 150 micrograms per cubic meter, the dust concentration in Ahvaz is now 60 times the permissible limit."
According to the public relations manager of the Khuzestan Environmental Protection Department, the situation in other cities in Khuzestan province is similar to that of Ahvaz, with slight differences.
Askari continued by saying that the concentration of fine dust in Susangerd has reached more than 15 times the permissible limit. In Mahshahr, this level is more than 14 times the permissible limit, in Hamidieh more than 32 times the permissible limit, in Omideh and Abadan more than 10 times the permissible limit, and in Dezful more than 12 times the permissible limit.
In 2013, the World Health Organization ranked four Iranian cities among the top 10 most polluted cities in the world. Ahvaz topped the list and was recognized as the most polluted city in the world. Sanandaj, Kermanshah, and Yasuj were ranked third, sixth, and ninth, respectively, as the most polluted cities in the world.
The World Health Organization announced in 2014 that 80,000 Iranians die annually due to air pollution, a figure that accounted for 21% of the annual mortality rate in the country.
Source: DW
