Nepal's Air Got More Toxic During Gen-Z Protests
- tanka Dhakal
- Oct 15
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 23
Severe air pollution from urban emissions during Nepal’s Gen-Z protests has sent vulnerable groups to hospitals with serious respiratory complications. A similar pattern emerged in June 2020, when Portland police unleashed excessive tear gas to control racial justice protests that followed the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
On September 8th, Nepali youth staged one of the world’s most consequential protests against corruption, unemployment, and the government’s decision to ban 26 social media platforms.
The youth-led movement forced a leadership change, resulting in the resignation of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and paving the way for the Sushila Karki interim government – all within a week. In the violence that followed, the Parliament, the Supreme Court, ministers’ homes, and police stations were set on fire; 74 people were killed, and hundreds were injured.
Prakashman Amatya, 68, a shopkeeper in Kathmandu, never imagined he would bear the brunt of the protests. He neither joined the demonstrations nor understood the government’s decision to ban social media, yet the severe pollution that followed has left him with asthma. Now undergoing treatment at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), he worries the new condition will worsen his quality of life. “He had some respiratory issues before, but it was not like this,” says his wife, Brinda Amatya. Already living with epilepsy for years, his health, she adds, has worsened since the smoke and tear gas engulfed their neighborhood during the protests.
On the first day of the protest, Amatya opened his shop selling devotional items at Bhaktapur Durbar Square, usually a serene place with ancient temples. That day, smoke from burning structures hung thick in the air – choking the square, hiding the architecture, and in no time, replacing the calm with fear and chaos. Amatya inhaled the smoke for eleven hours at work, and with his house so close to the protest site, there was no escape.
Amatya is not alone.
A month after the protests, hospitals in Nepal are witnessing a surge in patients with respiratory problems. “[In the past month], we treated hundreds of walk-in patients suffering from eye irritations, nasal blocks, and respiratory issues. We are still treating patients who need more attention, including [those with] asthma,” says Dr. Niraj Bam, associate professor and head, Department of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine, TUTH. “Before, it used to be around 40 cases a day, but after the protests, it went over 100 — mostly people who had inhaled tear gas and thick smoke from burning buildings [and] seeking emergency care for respiratory complications,” Dr. Bam explains.
Air pollution can have long-term, long-lasting consequences. The Ministry of Health reports that air pollution claims 42,000 lives in Nepal each year, with 19 per cent of the victims under five years old and 27 per cent over the age of 70.
That’s exactly why the concern runs deep, even among those not directly affected. “I am worried how this pollution might affect my toddler in the future,” says 36-year-old Geeta Shreshtha, whose home is just 350 meters (1,150 feet) from the protest site. She has an 18-month-old son and a 10-year-old daughter.
A September 2025 study on health impacts of air pollution in Nepal found that exposure to PM2.5 is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension and stroke, as well as neurological disorders such as neuroinflammation, autism spectrum disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease. It also noted that even short-term exposure to elevated PM2.5 levels can reduce lung function and worsen asthma in both children and adults.
Every year from March to May, Kathmandu Valley makes headlines for its hazardous air. In 2024, Nepal ranked seventh among 138 countries with the worst air quality, according to IQAir, a Swiss group that collects air-quality data from around the world. Kathmandu’s air quality on 1st April 2025 was the worst among global cities. That day, the PM 2.5 concentration in Boharatar, Kathmandu, soared to a hazardous 365 µm/m³ (micrograms per cubic meter), reported The Kathmandu Post in April 2025.
Surrounded by hills and mountains, Kathmandu is at a geographical disadvantage. “Kathmandu is a valley; smoke often stays trapped for hours or even days due to limited wind and frequent temperature inversions. This can make the air feel heavy and visibly hazy even after the fire is out,” says Dr. Khushboo Sharma, an air pollution analyst at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a Kathmandu-based intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre. “Urban fires can cause similar spikes, though typically over shorter time periods.”
This September, the AQI crossed 110 — classified as unhealthy for sensitive groups like Amatya. Following the protests, buildings burned for over 18 hours, filling the air with smoke and tear gas. “The sky was covered with smoke for hours,” says Dr. Bam.
These unpermissible standards of air quality are a public health hazard. In 2024, the average PM2.5 concentration in Nepal was 42.81 µm/m³, which was 8.6 times the World Health Organization annual PM2.5 guideline value.” As per WHO guidelines, the safe annual average limit for PM2.5 is 5 µm/m³. Such exposure, the WHO says, can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and increase the risk of stroke, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“Like diabetes and high blood pressure, air pollution is also a silent killer,” Dr Bam says. “It takes many lives-directly or indirectly.”
According to the State of Global Air report 2024, in Nepal, 48,500 deaths can be attributable to total air pollution in 2021. Globally, air pollution accounts for more than one in eight deaths and is the second leading risk factor for early death.
In June 2020, police in Portland, Ore., used excessive amounts of tear gas downtown to control racial justice protesters in response to the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. A 2023 study by Forensic Architecture, a human rights research group, found that tear gas concentration was high enough to cause severe and irreversible health effects, including asthma, shortness of breath, and panic.
Despite the known risks, five years later, federal agents are again using chemical munitions such as tear gas and pepper balls in Portland, this time on protesters near an ICE facility unprovoked. Unlike Kathmandu, there is no evidence that “Portland is burning to the ground,” as falsely claimed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Though Nepal is also no stranger to wildfires and political movements — the country has seen two revolutions since 1990 — recent Gen-Z protests, like Portland’s, were marked by escalation of force. A local official told AFP that tear gas entered the hospital where she worked, making it difficult for doctors to treat the wounded. Experts who spoke to The New York Times also left the door open to the possibility that the fires in September were coordinated and involved the use of accelerants.
Urban fires can have a very strong impact on air quality, experts say.
“When buildings, vehicles, and shops burn, they release a complex mix of harmful pollutants into the air,” Dr. Khushboo Sharma, air pollution analyst at the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a Kathmandu-based, South Asian-focused research organization, says. “Unlike wildfires, where most of the fuel is biomass (wood and leaves), urban fires involve plastics, foams, treated wood, and chemicals, which makes their smoke much more toxic.”
Nepal’s recent events pale in comparison to the 9/11 attacks in New York, when the Twin Towers collapsed, sending massive dust clouds of ash, debris, and toxic particles across the city. That was an extreme example, yet studies show that when urban environments are destroyed, the impacts can be similar. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 400,000 people were exposed to harmful contaminants during and after the 9/11 attacks, with consequences for both physical and psychological health.
And it is not over yet. A second wave of pollution is hitting the people, as the government is currently breaking walls of half-broken buildings and clearing debris. While a coordinated effort between the government and the citizens can be a game-changer, air pollution seems to be the last of the focus points for the government. Sharma reiterates the need to have more localised scientific studies on environmental health impacts.
“We are concerned about the possible health impacts and the likely increase in air pollution-related patients in hospitals,” says Dr. Prakash Budhathoki, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, which was also torched during the protest. “But so far, there has been no dedicated discussion on this.”
Meanwhile, the Amatya family is already paying the price. “I also felt shortness of breath when the smoke was thick,” says Brinda. “But I am worried about him, I don’t know if he will recover from this; it's painful to think about it.”
