The effect of bad air pollution in Delhi, along with the low pressure situation in the Bay of Bengal, Sri Lanka is currently suffering from an extremely bad level of air pollution.
According to the report issued by the National Building Research Institute, Colombo city has been most affected and 16 districts have been affected by air pollution.
In the meantime, experts request people to stay indoors as much as possible and to wear face masks if they go out of the house, as inhaling toxic gases can sometimes even lead to death.
Along with the low pressure condition in the Bay of Bengal, there has been a change in the wind direction and strong air currents have been blowing towards the south, and the bad air currents around Delhi have severely affected Sri Lanka by now.
Accordingly, air pollution increased rapidly in several major cities of the country, including Colombo, by this afternoon.
Experts point out that this contains gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide which are harmful to the human body.
The main reason for the rise in air pollution near India’s capital New Delhi is the burning of residues such as straw after harvesting by farmers in neighbouring states.
Also, this situation has worsened to a fatal level by adding harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide released by lighting fireworks for the religious festival of Diwali in India.
Around 400 harmful fine particles per cubic meter of air have been detected in the atmosphere of the capital city of Delhi, while it should normally be at a low level of 50 harmful air particles.
Accordingly, the same situation as Delhi was seen in the city of Colombo, which is about 1,500 km away from the capital city of Delhi.
If the air quality index of a certain area shows 0 to 50, it is considered as good air quality and if it shows higher values, it is considered as polluted air quality.
If it exceeds 151 in the air quality index, it is considered as severe air pollution.
Before the air pollution in Colombo city, the Lotus Tower was very well visible in our drone footage, but it was not visible today.
Also, air pollution had increased rapidly in several other major cities of the island this morning.
According to the report released by the National Building Research Institute at 8 this morning, Colombo was the most polluted city in the country.
Its air quality index value was recorded as 246 and the second air quality index value was reported as 237 from Mullaitivu district.
While the value of Vavuniya district was 229, it was recorded as 226 in Jaffna district and 214 in Trincomalee district.
According to the air quality index, Kalutara district was 186, Ratnapura 166, Kegalle 163, Polonnaruwa 160, Badulla 154 and Kandy 151.