Beijing smog triggers red alert for 2nd time this month

Its worst form is expected to hover over capital Beijing, which prompted the capital city to declare its second-ever “red alert”. That’s over 20 times the World Health Organization’s threshold for such particles being in an area’s atmosphere.

Cars were forced off the road and factories closed in Beijing on Saturday after the city was once again blanketed by hazardous smog.

Other cities in the region will also raise their alert level to red, the national environmental bureau said in a separate statement, adding it had urged regional governments to “implement heavy air pollution emergency response measures”.

Its estimated pollution levels in Beijing dropped by some 30-percent in 10 hours after the first red alert was issued earlier this month.

A red alert is triggered when the government believes air quality will surpass a level of 200 on an air quality index that measures various pollutants for at least three days.

Although the four-tier smog warning system was launched two years ago, Beijing had not issued a red alert until last week, drawing accusations that it was ignoring serious bouts of smog to avoid the economic costs.

Measures such as limiting vehicles on roads according to odd-even license plate numbers and banning fireworks and outdoor barbecues have been in force since 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

“I think (the government) is doing a better job than before”, Beijing resident Ma Yunan said. By issuing the alert early, its a good warning for people in the city, as the smog is going to be worse today and tomorrow.

While waiting for promised plans to cut coal pollution to take effect, residents of Beijing and other polluted cities in northern China adapt by wearing face masks and equipping their homes with air filters.

Coal is one of the major fuels that has literally powered that growth – China is the world’s largest user of coal, and some evidence suggests the country may be burning even more of it than previously thought.

A Red Alert was declared in Nanjing in 2013, but this was the first known instance of an alert that severe in the capital itself.

Germany’s Max Planck Institute has published a study in “Nature” magazine estimating that some 1.4 million people die prematurely in China each year because of pollution.