Beijing, China, has been hit by the worst yellow dust in the past decade. The first yellow dust warning was issued this year. On social media, there was also a complaining that “it looks like Mars.”
Correspondent Park Sung-hoon reports.
[기자]
It is downtown Beijing this morning (15th).
The vehicle in front of you disappears into the dust.
As the sunlight reflected off the yellow sand, the atmosphere turned red.
[조모 씨/베이징 시민 : 마치 세계 종말의 날처럼 보여요. 이런 날은 아무 데도 나가면 안 될 것 같아요.]
Citizens wear masks and scarves.
You can even see a person with a plastic upside down.
Even though I keep wearing a mask and covering, I still have a sore throat and cough.
There are not many people passing by on the streets even with the yellow sand wind blowing badly.
Compared to a sunny day, the situation becomes clearer.
It is a skyscraper district in Beijing last October.
But right now, we don’t even know if the building exists.
The figures are more serious.
PM10, which means the level of fine dust pollution, exceeded 9700 micrograms in central Beijing.
It is 200 times the WHO safety standard.
[류제/CCTV 기자 : 환경감시국에 따르면 이번 황사는 최근 10년 내 북쪽 지방에서 가장 심각한 수준입니다.]
As things happened, articles such as “Today I landed on Mars” and “Are we an air-purifying plant that eats fine dust?” were posted on social media.
This yellow dust is appearing in 14 regions of China, including Xinjiang, Neimenggu and Heilongjiang, as well as Beijing.
Roads were controlled everywhere and school classes were stopped.
China’s meteorological authorities said it was caused by a sandstorm from Mongolia pushed toward China with cold high pressure.
This yellow dust is expected to continue until tomorrow and then gradually decrease.
(Video graphic: Park Kyung-min)