TEHRAN, Iran — Primary schools will be closed on Monday in Tehran, as thick fog caused by pollution smothers the Iranian capital and most of the surrounding province, local authorities say.
They are also announcing on Sunday that they will impose traffic restrictions in Tehran, home to 8.5 million inhabitants, allowing cars onto the streets in alternating shifts, depending on their number plates.
An Iranian man wearing a mask to protect himself from pollution rides his motorcycle on the pavement in downtown Tehran on December 30, 2014. (Behrouz Mehri/AFP)
Similar measures were taken in December when primary schools in Tehran and most of its province were forced to close for several days because of the pollution.
Average concentrations of the finest and most hazardous airborne particles hit 144 micrograms per cubic meter in Tehran on Sunday and peaked at 169 in some areas, municipal authorities say.
That is far above the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum of 25 micrograms per cubic meter on average over a 24-hour period.
— AFP
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Sunday, February 4, 2018
