Editorial | Hong Kong needs to find way to keep on working during typhoons
- Despite city being prepared for Super Typhoon Saola, business still paid a heavy price as staff stayed home
Extreme weather events can be so violent and unpredictable that being prepared is essential for personal safety and the protection of public and private property.
Key to that, apart from learning the lessons of past storms, is an early warning that errs on the side of caution.
Hong Kong officials can take a pat on the back after Super Typhoon Saola. Preparedness was not the only reason the storm passed without loss of life or catastrophic damage. But a lack of it could have been a different story.
After the Observatory warned of the looming danger, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu took heed of the science and ordered the chief secretary and security chiefs to plan and coordinate the response.
The Observatory passed the early warning test with clear notice it would issue typhoon signal No 8 in the early hours of Friday.
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Downed trees and flooding as Super Typhoon Saola passes through Hong Kong
Hongkongers awoke on Saturday morning to the power of the storm with its fallen trees, scattered rubbish and flooded coastal communities. Economists put the cost from the loss of business at upwards of HK$3.3 billion (US$421 million).