The air quality over the weekend is forecast to reach harmful levels, as strong northeasterly winds are to carry pollutants from China, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday, advising people to avoid outdoor activities.
The warning came on the eve of several large activities in Taipei, including Academia Sinica’s annual open house event with more than 300 scientific activities on the campus and the annual LGBTQ parade that is to start on Ketagalan Boulevard.
Of the nation’s 77 air-quality monitoring stations, 25 displayed “orange” warnings of unhealthy conditions for sensitive groups as of 5pm yesterday, mostly in central and southern regions, as well as Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, EPA data showed.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, air quality across the nation might worsen with autumn’s first smog from China forecast to affect the nation tomorrow, the agency said.
The hourly concentrations of PM2.5 — inhalable particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less — might reach between 40 and 60 micrograms per cubic meter tomorrow, causing monitoring stations to display “orange” or “red” warnings, with the latter meaning conditions are unhealthy for all groups, the agency said.
If the smog moves southward as predicted, central and southern Taiwan might have poorer air quality from tomorrow afternoon, when strong winds could raise dust from plains and riverbeds, causing local PM10 concentrations to rise, EPA Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management Director-General Chang Shuenn-chin (張順欽) said.
Wind speeds in coastal regions might reach 10 meters per second with northeasterly monsoon winds and Typhoon Yutu approaching, Chang said, adding that dust pollution in central and southern regions might last until Wednesday next week.
To mitigate the effects of air pollution, the EPA has ordered Taiwan Power Co (台電) to curtail emissions at its coal-fired Taichung Power Plant and Kaohsiung’s Sinda Power Plant for the next few days, while large factories, construction sites and restaurants are required to cut pollution as necessary.
Sensitive groups, such as elderly people and children, should avoid outdoor activities, and if that is not possible, they are advised to wear masks, the EPA said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats