Good news and bad news

According to today's "Korea Times" the Korea weather agency lifted a dust storm warning for the entire Korean Peninsula. However, a slight sign of yellow dust was observed during the day.
In the left photo, Korean students walk around the desert area in central China Sunday. They went to the Chinese desert, from which the dust storms originate, to plant trees as part of bilateral efforts between China and Korea to help prevent the dust. A man in the right photo wipes dust from his car in Seoul after the dust storm hit the country hard over the weekend.
It is forecast that dust storms will hit the country once or twice more this month.
On Saturday, people were advised to refrain from engaging in outdoor activities as the sand storm, the worst of its kind since 2002, swept the peninsula.
Many people on the streets were seen wearing masks to protect themselves from the dust. The dust inconvenienced those who went out to enjoy cherry blossoms and other spring flowers.
Visibility was down to 2 kilometers, just one-fifth of the usual 10-kilometers on clear days. The dust density exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic meter and surged to 1,510 micrograms per cubic meter in the worst hit regions.

``The air currents carrying yellow dust became stronger from early Sunday morning, quickly clearing the Korean Peninsula from the influence of the dust storm,’’ the Korea Meteorological Administration said.
They lifted the dust storm warning at 6:30 a.m. in Seoul, Kyonggi Province, part of Kangwon Province, Kyongsang Provinces and North Cholla Province.
However, the agency advised the elderly and people suffering from respiratory diseases to stay indoors until the dust storm completely clears.
It forecast rain around the country this evening or late in the night. Cheju Island and southern regions will have 20 to 60 millimeters of rain, Chungchong Province 10 to 40mm, Seoul and Kyonggi Province 5 to 20mm.
Dust storms have recently emerged as an environmental and health concern as the dust, combined with pollutants from industrial cities in eastern China, have been blamed for the increasing rate of respiratory and skin ailments and damage to the country’s farming and industrial sectors.
Originating from Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert in central China, dust storms are carried over the Korean Peninsula every spring by prevailing easterly winds, filling the country's skies with a thick blanket of dusty sand, the weather agency said.
chungay@koreatimes.co.kr
04-09-2006 17:13