Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Hong Kong Air Pollution

Oh dear! A piece of bad news on yahoo! today:

Hong Kong air pollution hits record levels

"Today's API is at record high levels," an agency spokeswoman said in an email to AFP.

Hong Kong's famed skyline and harbour is often shrouded in a blanket of haze which has been criticised as a public health disaster and blamed for driving some expatriates away from the international financial hub.

"As the sandstorm from northern China is moving southward with the northeast monsoon and is now affecting Hong Kong, the Air Pollution Index is expected to reach the 'very high' or 'severe' level ..."

On the API index, people with heart or respiratory problems are advised to stay indoors at a reading of more than 100.

... the city's smog "kills three people a day" and its air is "three times dirtier than New York City's."

A study by the Civic Exchange think-tank last year said that Hong Kong's own road emissions were the dominant source of air pollution in the densely populated city of seven million.

Will this affect our June trip?

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