Advertisement

Beijing issues first 'red alert' for smog

December 8, 2015 at 12:53AM
A woman wearing a face mask to protect herself from pollutants walks past office buildings shrouded with pollution haze in Beijing, Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for smog on Monday, urging schools to close and invoking restrictions on factories and traffic that will keep half of the city's vehicles off the roads. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A woman on Monday wore a mask to protect herself from pollutants as Beijing was shrouded in a haze of pollution. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

BEIJING – Beijing has issued its first-ever "red alert" for smog amid the second intense bout of bad air this month. Officials announced plans to close schools, temporarily shutter factories and take half of the city's cars off the roads.

The measures will go into effect on Tuesday at 7 a.m. and last until noon on Thursday, when meteorologists predict a cold front will move the smog away.

The alert, which Beijing's Office of Emergency Management announced Monday, comes after a five-day stretch of air pollution last week reduced visibility in some areas to less than 300 feet and delayed flights at the city's main international airport.

Some commuters fear that the alert will wreak havoc on Beijing's already-packed buses and subways, and parents wondered how they'll look after their children until schools reopen.

"We were just informed the primary school will be shut for three days," said Li Xia, 35, an employee at an insurance company with an 8-year-old daughter. "There isn't such a thing as a pollution holiday for us. … What are we going to do with our children while we're working?"

Dong Liansai, a Beijing-based climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace, said the alert was consistent with the city's emergency response plan. "That's a sign of a different attitude from the Beijing government," he said. "It shows they really want to … deal with air pollution."

Los Angeles Times

Advertisement
about the writer

about the writer

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.

Advertisement
Advertisement

To leave a comment, .

Advertisement