Hanoi atmosphere 'dirty first in Asia'

Hanoi is one of the most polluted cities in Asia, the dust content is many times higher than the permitted level, foreign experts affirmed.

"In big cities in Vietnam, air pollution affects people's activities anytime, anywhere, especially Hanoi capital. This is one of the most polluted cities in Asia, and the city. the most polluted street in Southeast Asia, " warned Jacques Moussafir, ARIA Technologies of France.

The image of Hanoi is submerged in smoke. (Photo: Trinh Khanh Trung)

ARIA Technologies is a company that provides computational software solutions, simulates air pollution and supports meteorological forecasts.

According to Jacques Moussafir, the main source of pollution is traffic, expressed in PM10 dust content 4 times higher than the recommended level by the World Health Organization. PM10 is a tiny particle of particles suspended in the air, able to penetrate common masks to get in and stay in the lungs, causing disease in the respiratory system.

Statistics of the above company show that Hanoi has an average annual growth rate of 12% - 15% of vehicles, these vehicles contribute greatly to toxic emissions such as SO ₂ , NOx.

"Hanoi's pollution level is equivalent to that of Dehil and Karachi, two of the 10 most polluted cities in the world," Mr Moussafir said in a conference on urban environments that took place yesterday.

According to the data of the Environmental Monitoring Center, Vietnam Environment Administration, at many intersections such as Kim Lien-Giai Phong, Phung Hung - Ha Dong, densely populated areas, dust concentrations are usually higher. allowable, sometimes up 7 times. Other polluted gases such as CO, SO _{2 are} below standards, but are on the rise.

"The pollution source from transport activities accounts for 70% of the pollution sources in Hanoi. Other sources of pollution are activities from recycling villages and construction areas , " said Nguyen Van Thuy. director of the Center for Environmental Monitoring said.

"Without mitigation measures, dust concentration in Hanoi will increase to 200 mg / m3, 10 times higher than the recommended level by the World Health Organization , " noted Jacques Moussafir.

Bus discharge smoke in Hanoi street.

In order to improve air pollution in Hanoi, experts suggest, it is necessary to reduce personal transportation, increase the proportion of public transport participants.

"We need a modern, less polluting public transport network than the personal means we are using , " said Bernard Favre, ARIA Technologies.

Mr. Hoang Duong Tung, Deputy Director General of the Environment Administration said that Vietnam needs to study Bangkok, Thailand to develop the sky train system and the subway in improving air issues.

"In the short term, Hanoi needs to build a more dense environmental monitoring system, at least 10 observation stations. Currently, Hanoi has only two air quality monitoring stations , " Mr. Tung said.

In addition, other experts provide solutions to improve air quality in Hanoi such as the need to propagate people to reduce the lack of coal cooking, increase the use of solar energy.

"If the air quality in Hanoi and major cities in Vietnam continues to go down, the cases will double by 2020," Mr. Mousafir warned.