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Opinion
Ragasa’s wake brings pride and important lessons for Hong Kong
Hong Kong was both lucky and well prepared for Super Typhoon Ragasa, but every storm has lessons to better prepare us for the next
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Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA.
Last week, Hong Kong braved the strongest storm of the year in the world as Super Typhoon Ragasa ripped through the city as well as the Philippines, Taiwan, Macau and coastal mainland China, causing havoc.
Compared with the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, Hong Kong did well this time. Mangkhut sank boats, damaged infrastructure, left roads strewn with debris, injured hundreds of people and caused economic losses estimated at HK$4.6 billion (US$591.3 million). Economist Simon Lee Siu-po estimates losses from Ragasa at HK$2-3 billion, around half the damage done by Mangkhut. Lee says better preparations by the city helped reduce losses.
Credit must be given where it is due. Having learned lessons from Mangkhut, the government had already put together a steering committee on handling extreme weather. It did a good job with Ragasa, especially when it came to preparing the public ahead of the storm. The 36-hour grounding of flights was clearly communicated, with the airport remaining open and ready to shelter and care for stranded travellers.
Suspension of school was announced ahead of time as opposed to the usual practice of making announcements on the morning of the suspension. Drainage services had worked around the clock to clear drains in areas prone to flooding.
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