Mangkhut highlighted resilience, preparedness

Paul Surtees says HK’s high level of ‘can-do’ spirit ensured that damage from the super typhoon was kept to a minimum

Hong Kong is no stranger to typhoons: We get several blowing through every year. But the recent Super Typhoon Mangkhut was exceptional for its ferocity. It had earlier caused much damage and loss of life as it passed over the Philippines en route to striking Hong Kong at the weekend.

Despite this all-out assault on the city, with high winds, torrential rain and dangerously high waves and sea tides, for the most part the high level of preparedness enabled it to come through relatively unscathed.

That safe deliverance from the potential widespread damage, and human casualties, from a terrifying weather event was not won by chance, but rather it was achieved through the excellent work of many in the public services, especially the emergency services.

To start with, the careful and accurate predictions from the Hong Kong Observatory gave timely and detailed warnings of what was to come, enabling emergency measures to be set up in good time, such as opening the typhoon shelters. The whole population was well-advised to stay at home while the typhoon’s fury did its worst as it passed over Hong Kong.

Precautions, such as bringing boats and ships into typhoon shelters and the harbor, stopping the more vulnerable public transport services, closing schools, etc., were well-timed and of themselves helped protect the people in this densely built and densely populated city.

Because Hong Kong is situated in a known typhoon zone, the system of adverse severe weather warnings from the weather bureau works as effectively as a well-oiled machine, and was promulgated widely, enabling our citizens to get home safe before the weather became an immediate danger.

Also, as a typhoon-affected city, most of our buildings, bridges, roads and other infrastructure have been especially designed to be strong enough to withstand even the strongest hurricanes. Not all other typhoon-prone cities around the world are as well-built, and as a result property damage or even collapse of buildings is more commonplace elsewhere. Slope registration and maintenance are also wellmanaged in Hong Kong to minimize deadly landslides — which took a number of lives in the Philippines where Mangkhut unleashed its fury earlier.

While the rest of us cowered at home, avoiding being near the windows as the storm raged, numerous employees and volunteers of the emergency services by contrast went out into the storm as the winds picked up, to carry out evacuation, rescue and clearance operations. We cannot fail to feel satisfied and deeply proud of the way that our outstanding emergency services were speedily deployed to address a wide variety of emergency situations, oftentimes at great peril to themselves.

By helping to rescue local children and older citizens from unsafe areas; by removing fallen trees; by helping desperate villagers move to safer ground as waist-high water surrounded them; by providing swift first aid and medical care to the injured; and by taking all the other measures made necessary by the ferocious onslaught of Mangkhut, our fire service, police and hospital and ambulance officers and other emergency personnel risked their own safety to handle all that was necessary during this very testing period.

There can be no doubt that the effective early-warning system; the sturdy and resilient way that our infrastructure is constructed; the official provision of emergency shelters; on top of the brave, well-organized and energetic efforts of the various emergency services, all contributed to Hong Kong being able to come through this crisis in much better shape than most other places buffeted by similarly destructive forces of nature. It’s all too easy to overlook their contributions when all went well because of their good work.

It is sometimes questioned what more interactions with the general public should be arranged for the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army stationed in Hong Kong, who are for the most part confined to barracks. They could be effectively deployed to assist with the clean-up operation on the streets of Hong Kong, helping to clear our roads and pavements of fallen trees and the many other items blown around during this gale. But they should be mobilized only if the task of recovery proved beyond the immediate capacity of our various service disciplines, as happened in Macao previously.

Hong Kong people generally have the well-earned reputation of being hard workers. That quality was again demonstrated in the ceaseless toils (while soaking wet, and in high winds) of our emergency service workers, overstretched hospital personnel and shopkeepers fighting valiantly to protect their property against the elements. There is clearly still in Hong Kong an impressive “can-do” spirit, and it has again been amply illustrated by the swift return to normal business on Monday morning when typhoon signal No 3 was still being hoisted. Office workers, and service personnel in various industries all braved intermittent rain and harsh winds as they competed for public transport to get to work while our efficient cleaners picked up the pieces of fallen trees, construction materials and even office documents blown out of broken windows. It seems that our much vaunted “can-do” spirit, said to be the secret of Hong Kong’s success, has never deserted us, as some claim!

We cannot fail to feel satisfied and deeply proud of the way that our outstanding emergency services were speedily deployed to address a wide variety of emergency situations, oftentimes at great peril to themselves.