Killer noise and air pollution in Egypt

Egypt is suffering from several kinds of pollution. One certain pollution is not really being reaching any awareness at all from both the official authorities as well as the citizens, which suffer from it but also create it to a certain extend: The Noise Pollution!

From loud and blaring car horns and horn-symphonies of most taxi- and micro-bus drivers to wedding parties with drifting cars and motor-cycle donuts on public roads and right in the middle of other cars, rising noise pollution in the already much-polluted 24-hour metropolis of Cairo has reached disturbing and alarming levels, leading to hearing problems, irritability and even death.


Not to mention the loss of concentration which often leads to minor accidents and sometimes even to major and severe crashes. That�s probably one of the many reasons why cars in Egyptian have scratches and bends everywhere.

Living in the city centre, where noise levels reach an average of 90 decibels (dB) and never drop below 70 dB, is like spending all day inside a factory, a 2007 study by the Egyptian National Research Centre (NRC) unvealed.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), which considers noise pollution to be the world's third worst after polluted air and water, exposure for more than eight hours a day to sound in excess of 85 db is potentially hazardous and can lead to serious illness.


The Egyptian ministries of health and environment announced plans to establish a national network for monitoring noise levels in Egypt, but no date has yet been fixed for it to begin gathering data.
In the coming weeks we will publish several studies about the harmful results of being exposed to such pollution as well as to the air pollution in Cairo.