Emergency action as smog chokes Beijing
By Yang Jian |
January 14, 2013, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Choked in dense smog for three consecutive days, Beijing started emergency response measures yesterday to curb air pollution at hazardous levels, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Air Quality Index in most parts of the capital reached 500, the maximum pollution level, yesterday.
Emergency response measures were adopted in some areas to deal with the pollution, a senior official with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.
Outdoor sports activities for primary and middle schools were halted in extremely polluted areas, including Tongzhou, Miyun, Daxing, Mentougou and Fangshan districts, Xinhua said.
Work was suspended at 28 construction sites in the capital and 54 businesses reduced emissions by 30 percent, with Beijing Hyundai Motor Company halting production altogether, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.
Fourteen inspection teams were sent to 14 districts and counties to oversee the pollution-reduction measures yesterday, the bureau added.
Beijing has a permanent population of around 20 million and some 5.2 million vehicles.
Pollutants, parts of which came from vehicle waste and coal burning in the chilly winter, gradually accumulated in recent windless days. The hazy weather would continue until Wednesday, local meteorologists said.
Doctors at the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital and the Beijing Children's Hospital said the number of patients with respiratory disease had jumped sharply in the past few days, Xinhua reported.
While many people vowed to stay indoors yesterday, the city's streets were still fairly busy, and there was the familiar sight of heavy traffic on main thoroughfares, The Associated Press reported.
A young couple strolled along hand in hand in the central business district, both with matching white masks strung around their faces.
"I don't know why there is such heavy haze these past days. It's really quite serious compared with the air quality three days ago," a 33-year-old lawyer surnamed Liu told AP. He said he had ventured out only because he needed to go shopping.
The city's environmental monitoring center said on its website that the density of PM2.5 particulates surpassed 700 micrograms per cubic meter in many parts of Beijing yesterday.
The World Health Organization considers a safe daily level to be 25 micrograms per cubic meter.
The smog delayed or cancelled flights and blocked highways in Beijing and provinces of Hebei, Hunan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Sichuan with visibility reduced to around 200 meters in some regions.
The heavy smog caused serious air pollution in nearly half of China's cities.
"Rising temperatures and windless weather in central and eastern regions recently caused the heavy smog that made city pollutants, including those from burning of fuel in vehicles and power plants, hard to disperse," said Ma Xuekuan, chief weather forecaster at the National Meteorological Center.
Beijing's meteorological station issued the city's first orange fog warning yesterday morning due to decreased visibility caused by the heavy smog, Xinhua reported.
Officials recommended that children and the elderly stay indoors, and that others avoid outdoor activities.
The municipal environmental monitoring center said readings for PM2.5 - airborne particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter that can penetrate deep into the lungs - hit 993 on Saturday night. China's national standard is 75 micrograms per cubic meter.
Such pollution has been identified as a major cause of asthma and respiratory diseases.
"Pollutants have gradually accumulated over the course of recent windless days, making the air quality even worse," said Zhu Tong, a professor from the college of environmental sciences and engineering at Peking University.
The pollution is expected to affect Beijing until Wednesday, when wind is expected to blow the smog away, forecasters said.
The north China plains, middle and western regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and south China will also still see smog today.
The Air Quality Index in most parts of the capital reached 500, the maximum pollution level, yesterday.
Emergency response measures were adopted in some areas to deal with the pollution, a senior official with the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.
Outdoor sports activities for primary and middle schools were halted in extremely polluted areas, including Tongzhou, Miyun, Daxing, Mentougou and Fangshan districts, Xinhua said.
Work was suspended at 28 construction sites in the capital and 54 businesses reduced emissions by 30 percent, with Beijing Hyundai Motor Company halting production altogether, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said.
Fourteen inspection teams were sent to 14 districts and counties to oversee the pollution-reduction measures yesterday, the bureau added.
Beijing has a permanent population of around 20 million and some 5.2 million vehicles.
Pollutants, parts of which came from vehicle waste and coal burning in the chilly winter, gradually accumulated in recent windless days. The hazy weather would continue until Wednesday, local meteorologists said.
Doctors at the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital and the Beijing Children's Hospital said the number of patients with respiratory disease had jumped sharply in the past few days, Xinhua reported.
While many people vowed to stay indoors yesterday, the city's streets were still fairly busy, and there was the familiar sight of heavy traffic on main thoroughfares, The Associated Press reported.
A young couple strolled along hand in hand in the central business district, both with matching white masks strung around their faces.
"I don't know why there is such heavy haze these past days. It's really quite serious compared with the air quality three days ago," a 33-year-old lawyer surnamed Liu told AP. He said he had ventured out only because he needed to go shopping.
The city's environmental monitoring center said on its website that the density of PM2.5 particulates surpassed 700 micrograms per cubic meter in many parts of Beijing yesterday.
The World Health Organization considers a safe daily level to be 25 micrograms per cubic meter.
The smog delayed or cancelled flights and blocked highways in Beijing and provinces of Hebei, Hunan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jilin, Heilongjiang and Sichuan with visibility reduced to around 200 meters in some regions.
The heavy smog caused serious air pollution in nearly half of China's cities.
"Rising temperatures and windless weather in central and eastern regions recently caused the heavy smog that made city pollutants, including those from burning of fuel in vehicles and power plants, hard to disperse," said Ma Xuekuan, chief weather forecaster at the National Meteorological Center.
Beijing's meteorological station issued the city's first orange fog warning yesterday morning due to decreased visibility caused by the heavy smog, Xinhua reported.
Officials recommended that children and the elderly stay indoors, and that others avoid outdoor activities.
The municipal environmental monitoring center said readings for PM2.5 - airborne particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter that can penetrate deep into the lungs - hit 993 on Saturday night. China's national standard is 75 micrograms per cubic meter.
Such pollution has been identified as a major cause of asthma and respiratory diseases.
"Pollutants have gradually accumulated over the course of recent windless days, making the air quality even worse," said Zhu Tong, a professor from the college of environmental sciences and engineering at Peking University.
The pollution is expected to affect Beijing until Wednesday, when wind is expected to blow the smog away, forecasters said.
The north China plains, middle and western regions along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and south China will also still see smog today.
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