Firecrackers kill 1, leave less waste in the capital
Source: Xinhua |
January 29, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Firecrackers lit by Beijing residents to celebrate Chinese New Year killed one person and injured more than 200 others, the government reported yesterday.
The holiday firecracker casualties this year were down nearly 50 percent from a year earlier, according to the municipal health bureau.
Nine of the injured remain hospitalized, the bureau said, without revealing any details about the only fatality.
The holiday tradition this year left 183.7 tons of waste paper in downtown, according to the environmental sanitation group. The figure was 3.09 tons less than in 2011.
More than 5,000 street sweepers worked during the holiday to keep residential communities and roads clean, said Zhang Zhiqiang, a manager with the Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group.
The group also kept 20 water tank trailers on standby every day this week in case of fires. The Chinese New Year holiday is known for a high occurrence of fires with so many people lighting firecrackers, Zhang said.
On average, a family may spend hundreds of yuan on firecrackers during the Spring Festival, with some spending more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,582).
There were no statistics on how much firecracker waste was left in rural areas, where people follow the festival tradition more enthusiastically. They generally clean up the waste themselves.
Setting off firecrackers was believed by many to be an effective way to dispel misfortune and evil in ancient times. It soon became a tradition.
The holiday firecracker casualties this year were down nearly 50 percent from a year earlier, according to the municipal health bureau.
Nine of the injured remain hospitalized, the bureau said, without revealing any details about the only fatality.
The holiday tradition this year left 183.7 tons of waste paper in downtown, according to the environmental sanitation group. The figure was 3.09 tons less than in 2011.
More than 5,000 street sweepers worked during the holiday to keep residential communities and roads clean, said Zhang Zhiqiang, a manager with the Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group.
The group also kept 20 water tank trailers on standby every day this week in case of fires. The Chinese New Year holiday is known for a high occurrence of fires with so many people lighting firecrackers, Zhang said.
On average, a family may spend hundreds of yuan on firecrackers during the Spring Festival, with some spending more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,582).
There were no statistics on how much firecracker waste was left in rural areas, where people follow the festival tradition more enthusiastically. They generally clean up the waste themselves.
Setting off firecrackers was believed by many to be an effective way to dispel misfortune and evil in ancient times. It soon became a tradition.
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