UAE provided special aircraft for cloud seeding that helped in artificial rainmaking in some areas, says envoy
\n ISLAMABAD
\nThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) has offered Pakistan to provide material and technical assistance to lessen the effects of smog in various parts of the country.
\nIn a brief interview with The News here on Saturday, Ambassador of UAE to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi voiced his concern over the fog situation in Pakistan, especially in Punjab.
\nHe recalled that the UAE administration had provided technical assistance to Pakistan in order to help them overcome the haze last year, while the caretaker government was in power here. The UAE provided special aircraft for cloud seeding that helped in artificial rainmaking in some areas and provided relief to the brotherly people, he added.
\nAmbassador Al-Zaabi said that smog has been discomforting and it must be controlled by all possible means. He expressed satisfaction about the administration here which has been taking suitable steps to check the situation.
\nThe UAE envoy said that he was in touch with the Pakistan government and hopefully it would take further steps to mitigate the suffering on account of smog.
\nThe UAE had helped Pakistan in cloud seeding for precipitation in December last year, in the first experiment of its kind for the South Asian country.
\nPlanes equipped with cloud seeding equipment flew over 10 areas of Lahore on December 16, 2023, often ranked one of the worst places globally for air pollution.
\nAddressing a press conference, the then Punjab\u2019s caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi had said artificial rain was used to combat hazardous levels of smog in the Punjab\u2019s capital.
\nCM Naqvi had stated that the \u201cgift\u201d was provided by the UAE.
\n\u201cTeams from the UAE, along with two planes, arrived here about 10 to 12 days ago. They used 48 flares to create the rain,\u201d he told media.
\nThe UAE has increasingly used cloud seeding, sometimes referred to as artificial rain or blueskying, to create rain in the arid expanse of the country.
\nThe weather modification involves releasing common salt \u2014 or a mixture of different salts \u2014 into clouds. The crystals encourage condensation to form as rain.
\nIt has been deployed in dozens of countries, including the United States, China and India.
\nEven very modest rain is effective in bringing down pollution, experts say.
\nAir pollution has worsened in Pakistan in recent years, as a mixture of low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal crop burn off and colder winter temperatures coalesce into stagnant clouds of smog.
\nLahore suffers the most from the toxic smog, choking the lungs of more than 11 million residents in the metropolis during the winter season.
\nAfter Punjab, the smog has spread to multiple districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UAE provided special aircraft for cloud seeding that helped in artificial rainmaking in some areas, says envoy ISLAMABAD The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has offered Pakistan to provide material and technical assistance to lessen the effects of smog in various parts of the country. In a brief interview with The News here on Saturday, Ambassador […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-442748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n