Beijing turning to artificial rain to clear air
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-18 17:09
The storms are expected to last through at least Wednesday in Beijing,
neighboring Tianjin and a swath of north China stretching from Jilin province in
the northeast through Inner Mongolia to Xinjiang in the desert northwest, the
China Daily and other media said.
That region is home to hundreds of millions of people.
More storms were expected later in the week in Xinjiang and other parts of
the northwest, according to news reports.
Windborne dust from China's northern plains often blows as far as South Korea
and Japan and sometimes crosses the Pacific Ocean to reach California.
Japan's national Meteorological Agency said the dust has reached the
country's north and west and warned of reduced visibility, but didn't say any
health effects were expected.
In Beijing, a doctor in the respiratory ward of Chaoyang Hospital, one of the
capital's biggest, said the number of patients with breathing problems Monday
was two to three times normal. He refused to give his name or any other details.
Commuters wore surgical masks or wrapped their heads in scarves as protection
against the dust.
China's government has been replanting "green belts" of trees throughout the
north in an effort to trap the dust after decades when the storms worsened amid
heavy tree-cutting.
Last week, the western Xinjiang region was hit by its worst sandstorm in
decades, which killed one person and left thousands stranded after sand covered
railways and high winds smashed train and car windows.
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