- Title: CHINA: Beijing smog back to 'hazardous' levels
- Date: 23rd January 2013
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 35-YEAR-OLD TOURIST ZHANG LIBO SAYING: "Because we booked flight tickets one month ago, if the news report (of pollution in Beijing) was earlier, we would definitely not be coming, as we're particularly concerned about our kid's (health). But we booked the tickets and my kid was on winter vacation earlier than normal, so we reluctantly had to come."
- Embargoed: 7th February 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Disasters,Health
- Reuters ID: LVA14NNKPJZ6S391M8TINNOP306N
- Story Text: Beijing's smog shoots back up to 'hazardous' levels days after record air pollution sparked a crisis in the capital.
Days after record air pollution caused an outcry in Beijing, smog in the capital on Wednesday (January 23) shot back up to levels considered 'hazardous,' highlighting the long-term environmental challenge facing authorities.
Beijing's official air quality monitoring system showed pollution hovering between 300 and 400 on an index that measures particulate matter in the air with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers, known as PM2.5.
The U.S. embassy in the Chinese capital measured an index of 435 at 11am (0300gmt) on Wednesday.
A level of 300 is considered dangerous while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20.
On January 12, levels exceeded 700, increasing the number of patients visiting the city's hospitals with respiratory complaints.
Emissions from factories and heating plants, fumes from millions of vehicles and the burning of coal bricks to heat homes often conspire to blanket the city in a pungent haze that can become trapped when weather conditions are right.
A thick, grey mist hung over the metropolis of 20 million people on Wednesday, obscuring the red-tiled rooftops of the Forbidden City at its centre.
Outside the Forbidden City's gates, tourist Zhang Libo said her family regretted coming to the capital.
"We booked flight tickets one month ago, but if the news reports had been earlier, we would definitely not have come, as we're particularly concerned about our child. But we booked the tickets and my child started his winter vacation earlier than normal, so we reluctantly came anyway," she said.
Alan Rodhr, a tourist visiting from Los Angeles in the U.S. said he could 'taste metal in the air' and was keen to move on as soon as possible.
"I feel like we've got to get out of this city. We've been here for a day and a half. So we're gonna be leaving. Well, I mean, it's not only because of that, but we are here to see all of China. Definitely air quality matters," he said.
Smog also covered the Beijing's suburbs on Wednesday, and visibility was low at Beijing's Capital International airport.
Around ten percent of flights were delayed in the early morning, the airport's hotline told Reuters, but most flights were leaving on time by the early afternoon.
From the first day of this year, Beijing started publicly releasing PM2.5 readings from multiple monitoring stations across the capital and in 73 other cities.
The website of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center on Wednesday showed all the monitoring stations in central Beijing as deep purple dots, indicating air quality readings of over 300.
High levels of PM2.5 can cause cardiopulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infection, according to the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health.
Beijing's weather forecasting bureau expected strong winds to sweep through on Wednesday evening, dispersing the smog, the Xinhua news agency reported. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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