Why smog alerts were not heeded needs answering

A mother and her daughter protect themselves from the heavy smog in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Sunday. CHANG SHENGGANG / FOR CHINA DAILY

Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, Northeast China, has been suffering shockingly severe smog since Saturday. The average concentration of PM2.5, the fine particulates that are harmful to health, reached 1,155 micrograms per cubic meter in the urban area of the city, and in some parts the concentration was 1,400 micrograms per cubic meter. Comments:

The local government seemed unaware of the early warning signs and pre-warning alerts heralding dangerous air pollution, and even the social media notifications were delayed.

So what's the point of the warning system?

Warnings were released but nobody noticed. According to the requirements of the air pollution plan, the implementation of emergency response measures, construction work, demolitions and road works should be halted. But even on Sunday evening, machines were still roaring at a construction site in the city and the workers said they had not received any notice to suspend work. Such a serious problem needs an explanation as to why no notice was given to stop work at the site.

If serious pollution had been forecast, how come the local government's plan to deal with it was not implemented? To release alerts that various departments are unaware of makes a mockery of the warning system.

And even though the situation is already extremely serious, the government is still not responding to it effectively. So the supposed measures to prevent smog have proved to be empty talk.

Beijing News, Nov 10