BEIJING (AP) – Some residents took a smog holiday away from Beijing on Tuesday as the Chinese capital launched restrictions under its first red alert for pollution, closing schools, suspending factories and keeping half the vehicles off the streets.
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Under the code red, temporary restrictions say that all schools are required to close, cars can only drive on alternate days depending on license plate numbers, and outdoor barbecuing and fireworks are banned.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre said that the smog was expected to dissipate when a cold front arrived on Thursday afternoon.
The warning was the first time Beijing has raised the “red alert” since emergency air pollution plans were introduced two years ago, although levels of pollution have been much higher in the past. When the alert came into force early this morning local time the US Embassy’s pollution monitor showed the levels of particulate matter in the air had reached 291 micrograms per cubic metre, compared to 666 micrograms per cubic metre last week.
There have previously been stretches of severe smog that lasted more than three straight days.
“Some parents still brought their children this morning, hoping that the teachers could at least mind them, but they had no choice but to leave them at home alone”, Li Jianguo, a primary school caretaker, told AFP.
Brother Nut as Wang calls himself, spent four hours a day for 100 days sucking up toxic smog with his large, industrial-sized vacuum cleaner.
That alert level is the highest possible under China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection air quality measurement scheme.
A red alert means suspension of classes, construction work and limited use of cars.
The World Health Organization’s recommended maximum exposure to microscopic particles is 25 with levels in Beijing far surpassing that figure. “We are taking active measures to cope with climate change”, she said while replying to a question on the impact of Beijing’s pollution problem on the Paris summit. At the same time, another big problem affecting Beijing’s air quality are the numerous construction sites releasing huge quantities of dirt and dust all over the city. A study led by atmospheric chemist Jos Lelieveld of Germany’s Max Planck Institute and published in the journal Nature this year estimated 1.4 million people each year die prematurely because of China’s pollution.
The warning was an upgrade from an orange alert issued over the weekend when factories are closed, people asked to wear masks among others.
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Zhang also said it was “kind of weird” that a red alert had not been issued last week when the pollution was even worse.
