Earthquake Today: Faridabad Hit by Earthquake: How Strong Was It?

Faridabad and its neighbouring areas in Haryana state were shaken by earthquakes on Thursday, July 25. According to the National Centre for Seismology, “A 2.4 magnitude earthquake struck Faridabad city in Haryana at 10:54 am.” No casualties were reported. The National Centre for Seismology is the federal government’s nodal agency responsible for monitoring earthquake activity in the country. — NCS_Earthquake (@NCS_Earthquake) Earlier in April this year, a 3.2 magnitude earthquake struck Sirsa district in Haryana. Meanwhile, in separate news, Faridabad has emerged as the most polluted city in Haryana and the second most polluted city in India during the first half of 2024, based on a study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The study, which measured PM2.5 concentrations, found that Faridabad averaged 103 grams per cubic meter, significantly exceeding national and international air quality standards, raising concerns about the risk to public health in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Gurgaon, another city in Haryana, was ranked fourth among the most polluted cities in India, with an average PM2.5 level of 99 g/m³. These alarming pollution levels underscore a serious environmental health problem in the National Capital Region, with potentially serious public health implications. The five most polluted cities in the study included Birnihat in Meghalaya, and Faridabad, Delhi, Gurgaon and Bhagalpur in Bihar.

The CREA report painted a bleak picture for Faridabad, revealing that the city exceeded the World Health Organization’s daily PM2.5 guidelines of 15 g/m3 per day between January and June 2024. It also exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) daily limit of 60 g/m3 on 164 out of 182 days during the same period. Faridabad’s air quality did not meet the national ambient air quality standards between 2011 and 2015, making it the only city in Haryana to fail to meet the standards under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which was launched in 2019 and covers a total of 131 cities. Gurgaon and Ballabhgarh also reported severe pollution levels, with Gurgaon recording the fourth-highest average PM2.5 concentration in India over the past six months. Ballabhgarh recorded an average PM2.5 level of 94 g/m3, placing it ninth in the country’s pollution rankings. Both cities reported PM2.5 levels above the NAAQS limit for more than 160 days during the same period.

Other cities that made it to the most polluted list included Bhagalpur (5th), Sri Ganganagar (6th), Greater Noida (7th), Muzaffarnagar (8th), Ballabhgarh (9th), Bhiwadi (10th), Hanumangarh (11th), Chapra (12th), Patna (13th), Mandi Gobindgarh (14th), Angul (15th), Noida (16th), Muzaffarpur (17th), Saharsa (18th), Asansol (19th), Rohtak (20th).

Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at CREA, emphasized the prevalence of this problem in Haryana, saying, “Airborne particulate matter in 21 of the 24 cities in Haryana surveyed, except Palwal, Ambala and Mandikhera, exceeded the NAAQS PM2.5 limit for most of the period. The authorities need to focus on two areas. First, the quality of the data and placement of ambient air quality monitors for these three cities should be investigated, as it is curious that some cities are showing unusually low values ​​in the polluted air catchments in the region, raising questions about the data recorded by these cities. Second, it is important to formulate a larger clean air action plan at the air catchment level, which also mandates systematic and comprehensive pollution strategies for these cities and addresses sources beyond the municipal corporation boundaries of these cities.”

Officials from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board pointed to some improvements in Faridabad’s air quality in recent years. A senior official said, “The air quality in Faridabad has improved compared to previous years. Between October 2021 and September 2022, the average PM2.5 level was 101.5 g/m³, which improved to 89 g/m³ in October 2022-September 2023. This is a 12% decline, indicating an improvement in air quality compared to previous years. There has been a reduction in pollutants, but it is true that the situation has not changed completely. Coal-based industries have shifted from Faridabad, many of them to Papua New Guinea. The road infrastructure has improved in the last three years, and awareness about pollution has also increased. But we still have miles to go. We are working towards achieving clean air.”

The initial target of the EIA programme was to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 levels by 20-30% in the selected cities by 2024, with 2017 as the base year for improvement. In September 2022, the Centre set a more ambitious target of reducing PM2.5 concentration by 40% by 2026 in the EIA cities, allocating around Rs 6,897 crore to achieve these targets.

PM2.5 particles are tiny and toxic, measuring 2.5 microns in diameter, roughly 1/30th the width of a human hair. They can penetrate the lungs, enter the bloodstream and cause serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke and respiratory disease, making PM2.5 data a critical measure for assessing the health impacts of air pollution.

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