Beijing Issues First Ever Red Alert Over Air: Odds/Evens on Cars; Most Schools Shut

For the first time since new stringent air quality control measures were instituted in March of this year, Beijing has declared a Red Alert, immediately calling for odds/evens traffic restrictions, closures of factories and construction sites, and the shuttering of most schools for the next three days.

Under standards set in March of this year, a Red Alert is declared when the air quality is forecast to be over AQI 200 for three days or more. The city declared an Orange Alert at midnight last night, but upgraded the warning to Red at 6pm this evening, according to the Beijing News.

While Orange and Yellow alerts have been declared multiple times since the measures were enacted in 2013, this is the first time a Red Alert has been declared.

The most immediate effect of the Red Alert is the institution of odds/evens traffic controls on the roads, which will be enforced beginning at 7am Tuesday (Dec 8) and be in effect through noon on Thursday, Dec 10.

In addition to the mandatory restrictions, the measures call for "suggestions" such as the shuttering of preschools, primary schools, middle schools and high schools when red alerts are announced.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Education issued a memorandum early Monday evening clarifying their position: all schools should stop classes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They stressed that learning should not cease during the period and educators should reach out to students to give them homework via social media channels and school websites.

However, the department also said that all schools should have staff on hand to take care of students who are unable to stay at home due to parental obligations during the work day.

The education department will be issuing official updates every day at 2pm on its website during the red alert.

Confusion reigned Monday evening as parents scrambled for news about whether their children's school would be in session Tuesday.

The vast majority of Beijing international schools reached for comment Monday evening indicated that they would close through the 10th, while a handful said they would remain in session.

Local schools reached for comment initially said school would be in session but later confirmed closures after receiving the education commission's directive.

Weather forecasts call for a cold front to roll in Thursday that will help lift the heavy veil of pollution.

Beijing's current air pollution warning system is an upgrade to a system initially devised in 2013, described in the chart below:

The city government issues the pollution alert via multiple channels, including TV, radio, newspapers, the internet, and text messages.

Red and orange alerts are supposed to be released 24 hours in advance of taking effect. However, air pollution forecasting is not an exact science, and there is some question about the willingness of the city government to declare such an alert due to the disruption it would cause to the city's transportation, education and economic systems.

Hindsight is 20-20 they say, and looking back the Ministry of Environmental Protection's official figures for 2015, there have already been three bouts of bad air that resulted in AQI readings over 200 for three or more consecutive days: Oct 5-7 (three days) Nov 12-15 (four days) and Nov 27-Dec 1 (five days).

If accurately forecasted, that would have meant Red Alerts twice last month alone and three times since the tighter regulations were put in place in March. None were declared.

Hitting over 200 for three days in a row is not exactly news, either: under the current system, Beijing would have technically been in Red Alert territory six times in 2014 (Jan 13-15, Feb 13-17, Feb 20-25, Mar 24-27, Oct 7-11, and Oct 18-20). If forecasted properly, that would have meant odds/evens plate restrictions and school and factory closures back then, too.

As to what happens next, that's anybody's guess we're in uncharted territory here. Will drivers actually obey the odds and evens rules under such short notice? What happens if a freak wind comes up and blows the skies blue tomorrow does all return to normal? What happens if the pollution forecast calls for more smog after Thursday  do we remain a city half-closed? Only time (and bureaucratic deliberations) will tell. Never a dull moment here in Beijing!

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Jerry wrote:

A group of parents in my daughter's public school (she's in the second grade) were planning on buying an air purifier for her classroom. It was all discussed and agreed-upon, that is, until another group of parents decided they didn't want to pay, so they ran to the Ministry of Education and complained that the school was "charging extra fees." 

So now the school is prohibiting any of the classes from installing air purifiers because they are afraid of getting in trouble with the Ministry of Education.

Needless to say, we are getting our daughter out of this school as soon as possible, but words cannot describe the ignorance and cowardice at play here ...

I think the media are at least responsible for this. I don't remember a few front-page stories from mainstream Chinese media confirming that the air is really that harmful to everyone's health or giving a guide on how to minimize the harm. Most of the stories either focus on reporting scrupulously on facts, such as specific rules, alerts and enforcements, or taking the high road in talking about dealing of the air pollution on the public policy level. Some media also use photos of extremely bad air to attract readers. But very few of them give clear and unequivocal headline story on how harmful the air is to everyone's health, and what exactly people should do to reduce the harm. 

I'd like to think that if Beijing Evening News launch an interview with a specialist in the beginning of their 6.30pm news program who gives a clear suggestion to install air purifying devices in schools, and warns that breathing unfiltered polluted air would be very harmful to kids health, most Chinese parents would talk to the school to get a purifier in the classroom the other day. 

But doing this might piss off the government. It's one thing to report on the fact that the air is bad. People generally don't react strongly toward generic descriptions of one thing being good or bad. But it's another thing to call on an alert saying that the air is bad, and it's very harmful to all residents' health. It's like if people are told that the subway system is bad, most of them would be like "oh okay who cares". But if you make it clear with evidence that the subway system has safety issues which have led to numerous accidents already, many of them would try to find out what's going on there.

A group of parents in my daughter's public school (she's in the second grade) were planning on buying an air purifier for her classroom. It was all discussed and agreed-upon, that is, until another group of parents decided they didn't want to pay, so they ran to the Ministry of Education and complained that the school was "charging extra fees." 

So now the school is prohibiting any of the classes from installing air purifiers because they are afraid of getting in trouble with the Ministry of Education.

Needless to say, we are getting our daughter out of this school as soon as possible, but words cannot describe the ignorance and cowardice at play here ...

Jerry Chan, Digital Marketing & Content Strategy Director

What a mess.

Better yet they should make schools safe havens. They should take extreme measures to assure air quality in schools and then the kids never have to worry about whether or not to attend -- the schools could be cleaner than homes.

But old habits die hard. I fear the vast majority of people here in Beijing still live in denial that the air is really all that harmful.

 

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Amy2374 wrote:

Great to issue a red alert after 6pm and inform schools so late! What a mess for parents to organize the next day under such a short notice. It's not like the government couldn't see it coming. Even apps like airvisual were forecasting bad air quality for the next coming days... the forecast even says that Thursday should get better, yet the schools are still planned to be closed on Thursday...

10 days ago, we had over 500 for more than 3 days, nothing happened. I don't understand anything.

A disgruntled parent...

At least it shows we aren't living in an anarchy. The red alert actually surprised me as I never expected it would be ever issued. It appeared to me rather as a token thing.

Great to issue a red alert after 6pm and inform schools so late! What a mess for parents to organize the next day under such a short notice. It's not like the government couldn't see it coming. Even apps like airvisual were forecasting bad air quality for the next coming days... the forecast even says that Thursday should get better, yet the schools are still planned to be closed on Thursday...

10 days ago, we had over 500 for more than 3 days, nothing happened. I don't understand anything.

A disgruntled parent...