Losses
and Damage

Smog

Smog : It refers to a variety of air pollution in the troposphere, from smoke fog to atmospheric conditions of opaque odors due to pollutants

The Great Smog of 1952

Entering the era of the Industrial Revolution, Britain suffered frequent environmental disasters due to air pollution. In particular, London was the first place to report smog damage from fog and coal. In London, a city where fogging was not considered a special day, it was taken lightly. The sulfur dioxide gas, which was in the smoke burning coal, met with fog and turned into sulfuric acid, which had a fatal effect on the respiratory system of Londoners.

Nevertheless, Londoners lived in disregard of the dirty air as possible. But it didn't last long, and the crisis lasted for a week. For this reason, more than 4,000 people died in the first three weeks after the outbreak due to breathing problems and suffocation. Since then, more than 8,000 people have died from chronic lung disease. As a result, a total of 12,000 people lost their lives due to a week of smog. At that time, the deaths were mainly people with a relatively weak constitution, such as the elderly, children, and patients, and cardiopulmonary diseases increased rapidly in all age groups.

Citizens could not take any measures other than to leave London and take refuge elsewhere, and there was no other way but to wait for the atmosphere to recover due to weather changes.

Photochemical Smog

This is one of the air pollution that irritates the mucous membranes of the cornea or organs, causes respiratory diseases, and damages plants. In the case of photochemical smog, it is known that the effect on the human body is mainly visible. Pain in the eyes and tears are the most representative symptoms. Respiratory and neck pain, cough, or skin problems may also occur. Severe symptoms may cause breathing difficulties, paralysis of the hands and feet, dizziness, headaches, sweating, and vomiting.

Fine Dust

In general, dust refers to particulate matter that floats or scatters in the atmosphere, which occurs a lot when fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burned or in emissions from factories and automobiles.

Dust is classified according to the size of particles, and dust with very small particle sizes is called fine dust. Fine dust exists in sizes from 1/5 times to 1/30 times smaller than the diameter of a person's hair. As such, fine dust is so small that it is invisible that it can stay in the atmosphere and penetrate into the respiratory tract.

When fine dust enters our body, the cells in charge of immunity remove dust to protect our body, and at this time, an inflammatory reaction, which is a side effect, appears. If these inflammatory reactions occur in each organ of our body, such as the airways, lungs, cardiovascular and brain, asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases can be caused.

The World Health Organization announced in 2014 that 7 million people die earlier than life expectancy due to fine dust. The International Cancer Institute under the World Health Organization classified fine dust as a Group 1 carcinogen that was confirmed to cause cancer in humans in October 2013.

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