According to the news on the United Nations website on June 6, the spokesman of the United Nations Secretary-General, Dijarric, said in response to a reporter's question that the United Nations headquarters in New York took down the flag for the first time because of air quality problems and gave up raising the flag.
According to the United Nations website, on the same day, a reporter noticed that the flag outside the United Nations headquarters was taken down and asked why, Dijarric replied, "There is a corresponding procedure for the decision not to hang the flag." First, heavy rain, strong wind, low temperature, air quality is definitely one of them. But in my memory... This is the first time. We don't want to put security personnel at unnecessary risk..."
According to reports, there are 193 Member State flags away from United Nations Headquarters, which are usually raised and lowered by United Nations security personnel on weekdays.
The picture shows that on June 6, local time, New York, USA, was shrouded in smoke.
Recently, parts of the eastern United States have been shrouded in "orange smog" due to the continuous southward movement of wildfire smoke in Canada, and air quality has been deteriorating. According to AccuWeather, a private forecasting service, this is the worst wildfire smoke the northeastern United States has encountered in more than 20 years.
The National Weather Service has extended air quality alerts from New England to South Carolina, as well as parts of the Midwest, including Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.
Many companies require employees to work from home, and some non-essential municipal services are suspended. Local officials urged people to stay as indoors as possible and wear masks when they went out.
New York recently became one of the most polluted cities in the world. According to data released by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the New York City Air Pollution Index exceeded 7 on the afternoon of the 400th, setting a new record in decades. New York Governor Hochul and New York City Mayor Adams both issued health warnings.
In addition, two days after schools canceled outdoor activities including physical practice and recess, the New York public school system announced that about 100 million students will switch to remote learning on the 9th local time.
On June 6, local time, affected by the smoke of wildfires in Canada continuing to move south, New York, USA, was shrouded in "orange smog". On that day, New York became the city with the worst air pollution in the world. The picture shows New York Times Square. Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Fan
U.S. government data also showed that as of the morning of the 8th, air quality readings in Washington, the capital of the United States, were above "dangerous" levels. Marvin Binnick, a local resident, said it felt "surreal" to see the smoke spreading in the nation's capital from his 12-story apartment.
"Normally, Washington, DC is very lively, but today on my commute to work, it looks like a ghost town." Marvin Binnick said.
Currently, the United States has sent more than 600 firefighters to Canada to help fight wildfires in the country. U.S. President Joe Biden said the wildfires are yet another reminder of the dangers of climate change, and U.S. officials are monitoring air quality and flight delays.