Dhaka’s air improves after rain

Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka saw improvement in its air quality on Wednesday after a nor’wester coupled with rain lashed the city in the early hours of the day, reports UNB.

Dhaka’s air was catagorised as ‘moderate’ in the Air Quality Index on Wednesday noon and it ranked 26th among the most polluted cities in the world.

The megacity had an AQI score of 67 at 12:32pm.

When the AQI remains in between 51 and 100, the air quality is acceptable. However, it may affect the sensitive group.

Mexico’s Mexico City, Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and India’s Delhi occupied the first three spots in the list of cities with the worst air quality with AQI scores of 119, 1113 and 104 respectively.

The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.

In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants – Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and Ozone (O3).

Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution. Its air quality usually improves during monsoon.