Huge Dust Storm Envelops China, 341 Missing In Neighbouring Mongolia, Know Why It's Alarming

The high intensity dust storm also impacted the capital’s air quality severely with the official air index touching a maximum level of 500 on Monday morning, with floating particles known as PM10 rising beyond 8,000 micrograms per cubic metre in some districts.

Image Courtesy: AFP

In one of the biggest dust storms in a decade in China, the capital city Beijing has been covered in thick brown dust on Monday because of heavy winds gusting in from the Gobi desert and parts of northwestern China.

On Sunday, the neighbouring region Mongolia was also severely impacted because of the heavy sandstorms, with at least 341 people reported missing, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua. In fact, flights were also grounded out of Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia.

Which areas are on alert?

Gobi desert is a vast, arid region located in northern China and southern Mongolia.  The China Meteorological Administration has sounded yellow alert and informed the sandstorms had spread from Inner Mongolia into the provinces of Gansu, Shanxi and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, as per Reuters.

The high-intensity dust storm also impacted the capital’s air quality with the official air index toucing a maximum level of 500 on Monday morning, with floating particles known as PM10 rising beyond 8,000 micrograms per cubic metre in some districts, as per the update from the city’s environmental monitoring centre.

Why it’s so alarming?

As per the World Health Organization, the average daily PM 10 concentrations of no more than 50 micrograms is recommended.

In fact, the reading of PM2.5, smaller particles that infiltrate the lungs, were also above 300 micrograms per cubic metre. The number is far higher than China’s standard of 35 micrograms.
Such sandstorms are not unusual in Beijing during this time of the year because of its proximity to the massive Gobi desert and deforestation including soil erosion throughout northern China has added to the woes.

However, China has been making efforts to restore the ecology of the region to contain episodes of duststorms.

Tangshan, China’s top steelmaking city and a major source of pollution in Beijing and Hebei, said on Saturday it would punish local enterprises for failing to carry out emergency anti-smog measures.

Beijing and neighbouring regions have been facing high levels of pollution in recent weeks, with the city covered in smog during the national session of parliament which began on March 5.