BEIJING (AP) – China’s capital and a large area in the north of the country were engulfed in the worst sandstorm in ten years on Monday, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Skyscrapers in central Beijing seemed to be falling out of sight in the dust and sand. Traffic was curled and more than 400 flights from the capital’s two main airports were canceled amid strong winds and low visibility.
The National Meteorological Center said Monday’s storm developed in the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia, where schools were advised to close and the bus service be added to reduce residents’ exposure to harsh conditions.
Such storms occurred regularly in the spring, as sand from the western deserts blew eastward, affecting areas as far north as Japan.
Massive planting of trees and shrubs in fragile areas has reduced the effects on other parts of the country in recent years, but the expansion of cities and industries, along with strip extraction and overgrazing, has put constant pressure on the environment throughout China. With its mixture of desert and grassy steppe, Inner Mongolia is particularly prone to extreme weather conditions resulting from resource exploitation.
Like COVID-19, which is believed to have spread from bats and other wildlife, sandstorms are a reminder of the need to respect nature, said Zhou Jinfeng, secretary general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.
“Along with the pandemic, this is another important lesson we should learn and change our behavior,” Zhou said.
The National Meteorological Center predicted that the sand and dust will affect 12 provinces and regions in Xinjiang in the northwest to Heilongjiang in the northeast and the eastern port city of Tianjin.
“This is the most intense sandstorm our country has experienced in the last 10 years, as well as covering the widest area,” the center said in a post on its website.
It was unclear whether the storm was linked to a recent general drop in air quality, despite efforts to end suffocating smog in Beijing.
The ruling Communist Party has pledged to reduce carbon emissions per unit of economic production by 18% over the next five years. Environmentalists say China needs to do more to reduce its dependence on coal, making it the world’s largest climate-changing gas emitter.