Budget Tai tai
Maybe Singapore has a part to play to improve air quality in this city
Every time I receive an email from Singaporeans saying they're coming to Hong Kong, it always ends with their top-most concern: "How is the air over there?"I was tempted to say the air in Hong Kong is like the girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead: When it is good, it is very, very good but when it is bad, it's horrid.
Trouble is, it's never very, very good or horrid. Just an in-the-middle mushy all-round blah.
People see photos of Central with smog wreathing the landmark IFC, Bank of China and HSBC buildings, and wonder how I can still survive here.
Singaporeans smugly point out that a recent survey conducted by consultancy firm ECA International named the island state the best expat capital of the world for its infrastructure, health care, air quality and low crime rates. The authors said deplorable air quality was a major problem in several cities, including Hong Kong. Guess they hadn't taken the readings during the haze - because honestly, the air here doesn't smell as bad as the haze that hits Singapore. I remember having difficulties breathing and smelling smoke on my clothes during the haze.
The difference is, with the haze, the end is in sight. It clears when the winds change and everyone breathes freely again. Whereas the pollution in Hong Kong is pervasive and unrelenting. And toxic. When the winds stop blowing the smoke from the factories in the Pearl River Delta to the region, roadside pollution takes over.
A few weeks ago, the Air Pollution Index hit an all time high of 500 (healthy air should be below 50) because of a sandstorm in drought-stricken China.
People panicked and started talking about pollution warnings. The irony was that the sandstorm was nowhere as dangerous to our health as the everyday pollutants we were breathing in.
The Hedley Environmental Index compares real-time air quality data supplied by the Environmental Protection Department with the World Health Organisation's recommended limits on pollutants. According to the index, Hong Kong is affected mainly by local sources of pollution on 193.5 out of 365 days a year.
It estimates that last year, Hongkongers made 6.15 million trips to the doctor and paid HK$1.88 billion ($340 million) for pollutant-related health care while about 800 had been hospitalised for asthma.
When I first came to Hong Kong, I used to suffer from itchy eyes and a sore throat all the time. But what really worried me was the shortness of breath and the chest pains.
The doctor told me it was a mild case of asthma. As a regular jogger and swimmer in Singapore, I'd never had breathing problems before so I asked him: "Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's a common ailment in Hong Kong," was his answer.
Will it get better? Well, there are plenty of angry people here in Hong Kong. They're angry enough to set up websites and petitions to needle anyone they can and make their point.
Even hedge fund managers, who usually seem more interested in money than the environment, worry that pollution is frightening off the most talented traders and analysts.
Maybe a few more years of losing out to Singapore as the best expat city because of poor air quality will do the trick. After all, Hong Kong seems to think best when pockets and profits start hurting.
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Tabitha Wang hates the way her husband uses pollution as an excuse not to go jogging - 365 days a year.
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From TODAY, Voices - Friday, 09-April-2010; source article is here: Breathless in Hong Kong
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