BEIJING, April 21 (UPI) -- Seasonal sandstorms from the Gobi desert are wreaking havoc in Beijing but China is confident they won't disrupt the 2008 Summer Olympics in the capital.
The desert winds this week dumped about 300,000 tons of sand on the capital, turning gray rooftops yellow and forcing residents to wear surgical masks, reports The Los Angeles Times.
"The Olympics will be in August; the sandstorms usually hit Beijing in the months of March, April and May," said an official with the sandstorm-control agency.
But Chinese officials also know it could be a long time before Beijing residents can be free from the annual plague, says the report.
The problem in a country whose landmass is one-fifth desert is blamed on soil erosion caused by overgrazing, farming and deforestation. Beijing sits at the foot of the approaching Gobi.
Separately, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the sandstorms have affected the air quality in nearly 50 percent of the country's major cities, impacting about 100 million people.
