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Although the media did not mention about it, but I see it, I smell it. Inside Cairo it is not really there, but when you drive in ring road or any desert road you will feel it. it is the fourth day for me when I go home (Al Rehab)or leave the windows open after midnight, I can smell it. It is the same smoke or fire smell. Did anyone noticed that especially for people outside and near Cairo ?!!!
Posts: 55 | From: Cairo | Registered: Sep 2006
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The last time heavy media coverage was done on the black cloud was around the same time last year so maybe there is a cycle that in autumn it appears.
Gosh, I'd suffer from asthma attacks if I would be there right now!
Sure they are not just burning trash somewhere?
Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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Come October and Cairo is gripped by an obnoxious smog, locally known as the black cloud. Over the past few nights, I have had to shutter my family, especially the children, inside the apartment.
The balcony and windows have been off limits for us all. Violation of the self-imposed rule means irritation to the eyes, a sore throat and shortness of breath.For the seventh year in a row, the black cloud has hit Cairo and neighbouring towns hard. As always, the usual suspects are blamed. The perennial problem is attributed to the Delta farmers' torching of agricultural leftovers. This non-environment-friendly burning is banned in law. Even so, the black cloud arrives on our doorstep as an unwelcome visitor every October. Why does this continue to happen? Paradoxically, this pernicious haze has survived three Ministers of the Environment. Egyptians made the impossible possible in 1973 when they overran Israel's Barlev Line and routed the allegedly invincible army of the Jewish State. It is a national disgrace that we cannot defeat this ugly black cloud!
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DAMN, when will we stop having that black cloud, when will we have it red or yellow even ... without pissing on it ....?!
Posts: 890 | Registered: Sep 2007
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"Black Cloud" Of Pollution Hits Cairo Once Again
October 15, 2007 4:48 p.m. EST
Manar Ammar - AHN News Writer
Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Several Egyptian cities are suffering from what people are calling "the black cloud" for the ninth year in a row. The rice peel burning season has started and cities like Cairo and Delta region cities Gharbiya and Domiyat are being hit hard. Farmers claim that they burn the rice peels because the government doesn't supply them with any other options.
"We burn it because we need to prepare the land for planting wheat and we are forced to do so because the government can't recycle the rice peels to make fertilizers," a farmer told a local newspaper in Cairo.
Cairo is one of the most polluted cities worldwide.
A recent study found the burning of leftover waste causes 36 percent of Cairo's pollution, industrial exhaust contributes to 32 percent, car exhaust accounts for 26 percent, while agriculture disposal burnings add only 6 percent to the problem.
Thinking of a solution to solve the recurring problem, the Ministry of Environment began issuing fines to farmers, for about $900 USD.
About 175 fines have been given out to farmers as a committee from the ministry continues its search "day and night" to fine those who violate the non-burning laws, a ministry source said.
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