TheAsthmaFiles2015 - Beijing Chating Vulnerability

Beijing, China
Hazard Type	Local Hazard?	Information Source	Information Circulation
Earthquake	Moderate to High risk. Part of Yanshan Mountains Seismic Belt. 4.8 quake in 2012	Seismic Belt Wikipedia Search	Used Wikipedia search for Earthquakes and Google Maps for where they occurred.
Flooding	High Risk, Beijing has had several devastating floods in the past five years. City drainage is not sufficient and information about flooding and safety is lacking, leading to many deaths. A study was done to assess what improvements need to be made to fix Beijing's issues. Of fifteen participating institutes, only three were Chinese.	The Economist The Guardian Beijing CORFU Study	Easily accessible Western news reports. PDF of CORFU was available on google search for free.
Hurricanes	Potentially High Risk. Known typhoons to affect Beijing, Typhoon Matsa, Fitow, Dujuan.These typhoons had a significant destructive effect all since 2000.	Matsa Fitow Dujuan	NOTE: Vernacular difference, must search "typhoon" instead of hurricane. Fairly well circulated, mostly through Western media outlets.
Severe Weather/Tornados	Unknown risk. The first recorded tornado in Beijing was in 2012. Historical data not available. However, the 2012 tornado was an EF3 level or a severe tornado.	Beijing Tornado	Not well circulated.
Nuclear Facility	Low Risk, Beijing is not within 100 miles of any nuclear power generator.	World Nuclear Associtation	Easy to find webpage on Google search, however graphic and corresponding article do not give distances.
Chemical Facility (hazardous waste)	High risk. Three plants were easily found through a Google maps search, however an article stated that 100 plants and building sites would be shut down to decrease air pollution, so the number is likely greater. China has planned to move 10 chemical plants deemed to close or polluting to residential centers, after the Tianjin explosion prompted China's Minister of industry and information technology, Miao Wei, to call for study and/or relocation of 1,000 sites.	Google Maps search Movement of Plants Miao Wei	Not well ciculated data. Information gleaned from related post by South CHina Morning Post, and Scientific American reports.
Sewage Treatment Facility (hazardous waste)	Moderate. There is one treatment facility within 15 miles of the city center.	Google Maps Search Beijing	Not easy to find data with method used for American cities. Two out of three results were ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), not plants. Note Language Barrier difficulty.
Severe Heat (Climate Change)	Moderate to High risk. Beijing is an urban heat island and has several severe heat days a year. This poses a significant health risk. In addition China had the worst heat wave in 140 years in 2013. Climate change could exacerbate these risks.	Heat Wave Climate change	Not well circulated. American news report and academic study.
Winter Weather	Low Risk for snow hazards. Little amount of snow and moderate number of days with snow compared to historical data over the past 10 years. "Major" snow event in 2010 with 3" of snow. However, small amouts of snow do force some roadways and airports to close in Beijing. It should be noted that Beijing does experience extreme to moderate cold temperatures in the winter months.	South China Morning Post The Guardian 2010 Climate Data	Data was difficult to find. Articles were scare and even basic weather reports of snowfall were difficult to locate.
Fracking (Water Contamination)	Changing Risk. Fracking is presently not spread very widely through China, however there are reports that China intends to increase their natural gas output by 23 times. Water availability limits growth of the industry so that may present an issue of more concentrated drilling around few water sources.	Increase in Fracking Water Sources	Fracking data was more accessible than in Houston. Even with relatively few fracking sites, the articles on the future of fracking were very available.
Drug Abuse (Methamphetamines)	Drug use has been on the rise in China. News organizations like the New York Times believe that the Chinese is not effective enough at handling the current problem. Methamphetamines are most common because they can be made in illegal labs anywhere in China and do not necessarily need a foreign source. Especially common among expatriates in China.	Drug Use on Rise NYT	Not well circulated in China. The New York Times is often blocked by the national firewall.
Suicide	Changing Risk. The most recent Chinese estimate of suicide rates was 9.8/100,000 (very low on a national scale), however the Center for Disease Control (USA) observed the rate to be 22.23/100,000 (very high on a national scale). There is great disparity of suicide rates between urban/rural areas, women/men, and students.	Wikipedia, suicide rates Youth Suicide	Data was hard to find, and there are a number of opposing sources. It is difficult to determine which is more accurate.