29 Mar 2004 09:42:51 GMT

BEIJING, March 29 (Reuters) - One of the worst dust storms to hit northern China in years swirled into Beijing on Monday, turning the skyline of the sprawling capital into a monochrome of grey and prompting afternoon commuters to put on surgical masks.

Visibility in parts of north China was cut to 10 m (33 feet) over the weekend, the China Daily said on its Web site, complicating relief efforts after an earthquake last week in Inner Mongolia.

"Thus far, 80 per cent of the 1,500 tents put up after the earthquake have been destroyed, leaving some 10,000 earthquake victims in the open air waiting once again for help," it said.

"When the wind came, the sky turned from blue to red and then black in the afternoon," a resident of Inner Mongolia was quoted as saying on the Web site, which described the storm as the worst in years.

An earthquake registering 5.9 on the Richter scale rocked the north on Wednesday, but no immediate casualties were reported.

Dust storms that hit Beijing every spring are blamed on winds whipping up the sands of increasingly dry northwestern regions where reforestation projects have yet to rein in erosion and desertification.

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