(UPDATE) MANILA, Philippines — Eight areas in Metro Manila are currently breathing unhealthy air from the ongoing blaze at the Navotas Sanitary Landfill Facility (NSLF), according to a Facebook post by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau in the National Capital Region (DENR-EMB-NCR) on Saturday.
Classified as "very unhealthy" are Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Quezon City (Manila Observatory Compound and Commonwealth Avenue); San Juan City as "unhealthy for sensitive groups” and Marikina and Valenzzuela "acutely unhealthy."
Residents in areas designated as "very unhealthy" are urged to avoid places where there is heavy traffic while people with heart and respiratory diseases are urged to stay indoors and rest.
The bureau said Metro Manila was experiencing a “thermal inversion,” where warm air sits below cold air and “acts like a lid that prevents pollution from rising.”
Meanwhile, the Manila City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Department advised residents to wear face masks as the air quality across the city was classified as “very unhealthy.”
In a Facebook post Saturday, the Manila DRRM department urged the public to limit outdoor activities unless necessary and to wear a face mask as protection against the adverse health effects caused by polluted air, particularly those near the Tayuman area.
They added that vulnerable groups—such as children, senior citizens, pregnant women, and those with respiratory illnesses such as asthma—should stay indoors and avoid going out.
Manila was not among the affected areas mentioned by the environment agency.
