Dec 19, 2016 06:13 PM

Move to Classify Smog as 'Meteorological Disaster' Meets With Derision

By Yang Mengqing, Zhou Chen and Li Rongde

A woman wearing a face mask walks through Tiananmen Square in Beijing amid heavy smog on Nov. 26. Beijing city authorities declared this year's first "red" smog alert on Friday, shutting schools and advising residents to stay indoors. Photo: IC

(Beijing) — City authorities in Beijing have come under fire over a draft regulation they proposed to local legislators that seeks to classify smog as a "meteorological disaster."

The capital's legislature, the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, released the second revision of the draft document on its official website on Dec. 1. The document explicitly defined smog as a meteorological calamity — along with storms, heat waves and droughts.

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