Due to extreme smog , the Chinese authorities have declared the second highest alert level orange in the north and in the central regions of the country. It affects approximately 400 million people. The air values for the particularly dangerous particulate matter reached on Tuesday in Beijing , the 17 – to 20-fold by the World Health Organization ( WHO) recommended limit.
The Meteorological Centre declared a smog alert for the cities of Beijing and Tianjin and the six provinces of Hebei , Shanxi, Shandong , Henan, Shaanxi and Liaoning. In the northeast of Beijing city Tangshan even 34fache the WHO guideline value was measured.
The smog days since the north and east of the country already maintains a stranglehold and the pollutants even fly over to South Korea. On Monday , the health department in Beijing had elderly and children asked to stay at home . The 20 million Beijing should best protect themselves with masks if they were outside the door .
Smog In China:Up to 500,000 deaths caused by air pollution
The long -term consequences of high pollutant levels are fatal: The former Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu estimates in a study that each year 350000-500000 Chinese die prematurely from the effects of air pollution.
An earlier study goes even further , and estimates that in 2010 alone 1.2 million people died from the effects of particulate matter with super small particles of less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter were killed. These pollutants go directly through the lungs into the blood. When ” almost uninhabitable ” had described the capital and thus provided a whirlwind , a study of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences .
After the devastating smog in Beijing last winter had announced its contingency plans in the fall. So massive bans and factory closures are at the highest alert level “Red” planned. The Beijing but do not understand is why not finally switched from “orange ” to ” red”. “We ‘re all afraid of what happens to us,” says the 28- year-old Zhang Li “The authorities simply do not want to call out the highest level . ” Perhaps no one wants to take responsibility when the metropolis come to a standstill.
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