In Hong Kong, common sense keeps lives safe in a typhoon
[1] Mangkhut, in September 2018, was the strongest of the 16 typhoons since the second world war to hit Hong Kong, for which the observatory hoisted the highest signal, number 10. Waglan Island in the east sustained mean winds of 161kph (100mph), the second-highest on record, and gusts of 260kph. The storm surge at Tai Po Kau on the mainland, of 3.4m, was the highest recorded.
[2] Mangkhut resulted in no recorded deaths and just 363 injuries. In neighbouring Guangdong, it was estimated that the winds had directly caused more than 4 billion yuan ($580 million US dollars) of losses and that four people had been killed (three were pinned beneath trees and one was struck by an advertising hoarding).
[3] Southern China weathered Mangkhut better than was feared, partly because of their preparations. In advance, at least 2.5 million of Guangdong's 105 million residents were moved to safer places. Many of those who were moved appeared to be coastal-dwellers and construction workers, who often bed down in flimsy dormitories. They were sent to schools, stadiums and exhibition halls.
[4] Meteorological prediction and administrative preparation have improved beyond all recognition. Regular updates were posted as Mangkhut advanced. Fishing fleets and merchant craft evaded its path. The authorities in Hong Kong similarly evacuated low-lying villages and opened shelters for the homeless. Buses evacuated thousands of residents. Flood barriers were erected.
(5] The city's residents listened to injunctions to stay indoors-turning Hong Kong into a ghost city on September 16th 2018. Still, when the storm struck, no one had experienced anything so violent. Windows popped from office towers and rivers of paper flowed up into the clouds. An external elevator shaft on a high-rise construction site buckled and collapsed. A huge stretch of scaffolding ripped off the front of a building as easily as a sticking plaster. Trees fell llke ninepins, and 1,000 sections of road were blocked by trees or debris. Train tracks and ferry piers were damaged, and Mangkhut left the airport with a backlog of 2,000 flights.
[6] The same day Mangkhut made landfall in Guangdong, China's most populous province, flooding coastal and riverside neighbourhoods, and toppling thousands of trees. Mangkhut subsequently spun through the much-poorer provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan, though by then it had weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm.
[7) Near the seafront in Zhuhal, a mainland city of more than 1.5m people next to Macau, high winds whittled palm trees into sharp spindles.
One resident recounts pushing his sofa against his windows, fearing that the rattling glass was about to shatter. But he says the city has cleared up more swiftly than after previous typhoons, and that the Chinese government's preparations seemed more comprehensive, too.
Days before Mangkhut arrived, the government began sending locals text messages warning them to stockpile food and water and prepare to stay in their homes. The instructions were widely obeyed.
(8) The government noted that its enormous new bridge across the Pearl River estuary survived unscathed, and reassured locals that two nuclear-power stations located on Guangdong's coast had also escaped damage. China's leaders have lately sought to improve the handling of natural disasters and other emergencies. In April a hopeful sign was the government's creation of a new Ministry of Emergency Management, drawing together staff who had previously laboured in a dozen different departments.
[9] Overall, residents of the region have been impressed with the Chinese government's prepared response to the typhoon. There has been praise and appreciation for the efforts.
[10] in Hong Kong, however, it is a different story. The clean-up and the grumbling began simultaneously, Schools were closed for two days, as some were damaged and streets were still covered with glass and broken branches. But grown-ups had to struggle to get to work despite disrupted underground, bus and rail services.
[11] Tens of thousands mobbed the Facebook page of Carrie Lam, the chief executive, demanding to know why no holiday had been declared.
One of her advisers explained that the government "has no power to meddle with all the contracts between employers and employees." This is clearly, many argue, a city being run for the benefit of business. Where the Chinese government has been applauded for their work, Hong Kong's has been ridiculed. Ultimately, the figures show that people are safer than ever and the damage is cleaned up more rapidly than in the past. But there are still improvements to be made.