- Title: Fog and smog in China closes highways
- Date: 4th January 2017
- Summary: TIANJIN, CHINA (JANUARY 4, 2017) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (CCTV - Broadcasters: NO ACCESS CHINA Digital: NO ACCESS CHINA) BUILDINGS STANDING CARS RUNNING ON ROAD TRAFFIC PEOPLE RIDING BICYCLES ZHENGZHOU CITY, HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA (JANUARY 4, 2017) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (CCTV - Broadcasters: NO ACCESS CHINA Digital: NO ACCESS CHINA) FOG AND SMOG VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC IN STREET TOLL GATE LANES CLOSED AT TOLL GATE ELECTRONIC BOARD READING (Chinese): "HIGHWAY CLOSED DUE TO FOG" TOLL GATE LANES AT TOLL GATE CLOSED ELECTRONIC BOARD SHOWING CROSS TO INDICATE TOLL GATE CLOSED SHIJIAZHUANG CITY, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (JANUARY 4, 2017) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (CCTV - Broadcasters: NO ACCESS CHINA Digital: NO ACCESS CHINA) BUILDINGS BUILDINGS/TRAFFIC CARS DRIVING ON ROAD PEOPLE RIDING MOTORBIKES CARS DRIVING ON ROAD CARS WAITING AT TOLL GATE ELECTRONIC BOARD READING (Chinese): "HIGHWAY CLOSED DUE TO FOG/TOLL GATE CLOSED"
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: CCTV China fog pollution smog
- Location: TIANJIN/SHIJIAZHUANG CITY, HEIBEI PROVINCE/ZHENGZHOU CITY, HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA
- City: TIANJIN/SHIJIAZHUANG CITY, HEIBEI PROVINCE/ZHENGZHOU CITY, HENAN PROVINCE, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Pollution,Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA0015XO09J9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Fog and smog continued to blanket central and eastern China on Wednesday (January 4), closing highways and disrupting traffic, state media reported.
China's National Meteorological Center issued an orange alert for smog and a red alert for fog at 6 a.m. on Wednesday (2200 GMT on Tuesday (January 3)) in parts of central and eastern China.
Some sections of highways in nine provinces, including Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, closed due to low visibility, China's state television CCTV reported, adding that the lowest visibility was below 50 meters due to heavy fog in some areas.
CCTV cited the Center as saying the smog was expected to begin easing from Thursday (January 5), and both smog and fog would likely disperse on Sunday (January 8) with the arrival of colder air.
Heavily polluted Hebei province, which surrounds most of Beijing, said on Tuesday (January 4) it had ordered all polluting firms in Tangshan, China's biggest steel-producing city to the east of Beijing, to shut down.
In a statement on its website, the Hebei government named Tangshan Luanxian Xinglong Iron and Steel Co. Ltd as a major culprit for failing to control emissions and even allowing the staff canteen to directly burn coal, contravening regulations.
Hebei, home to seven of China's 10 smoggiest cities in 2015, will also build the world's biggest dust prevention barrier, stretching nearly two miles, at the major coal port of Qinhuangdao in a bid to cut pollution, state media said on Wednesday.
Pollution alerts are common in northern China, especially during bitterly cold winters when energy demand, much of it met by coal, soars.
But the capital's smog alert was at the second-highest orange only on Wednesday, raising questions from some living in the city. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said it hadn't issued a smog red alert, the highest warning, because of discrepancies in the forecasts for different parts of Beijing.
China is in the third year of a war on pollution aimed at reversing the damage done to its skies, soil and water after decades of untrammelled economic growth. But measures taken so far have had little or no effect. - Copyright Holder: CCTV (China)
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