--FILE--View of the CCTV Tower, center, the headquarters of China Central Television, and other buildings in heavy smog in Beijing, China, 6 April 2016. Beijing municipal authorities are mulling whether to classify the city's notorious smog events as "meteorological disasters" along with torrential rain, blizzards and droughts among others, according to draft regulations on natural disaster mitigation submitted on Thursday (26 May 2016). Liu Zhengang, director of the municipal government's legal affairs office, said smog as was "a combined result of man-made pollution and natural weather conditions" so it was appropriate to call the phenomenon a meteorological disaster, the Beijing News reported. Both Tianjin and Hebei ¨C Beijing's neighbours ¨C have classified smog as weather disasters, so Beijing authorities considered it "necessary" to adopt the classification as well for "regional cooperation on tackling smog", the report said.
