A vast area in coastal China was severely lashed by Super Typhoon Mangkhut over the weekend. A deadly storm that caused considerable disruptions and dozens of deaths in the Philippines, it brought drenching rains, powerful winds and massive waves when it made landfall in Hong Kong, Macau and China’s Pearl River Delta.
The frequency and intensity of tropical storms exposes the vulnerability of major cities in their path. Storm surges flooded low-lying neighborhoods in Hong Kong and Macau. Heavy rain triggered landslides, and fallen trees and power lines shut down highways and bridges.
Neighborhoods in Hong Kong and Macau looked like disaster zones after Mangkhut passed. Debris and broken windows were piled up in the streets. Residents lost electricity and were cut off from the outside world.
It was moving to see that firefighters and police officers worked together to rescue stricken residents.
Everyone has been grateful for the outpouring of compassion and support, but it is important for metropolises like Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and Guangzhou to reflect on three lessons in disaster management in preparation for the future.
First, global climate change is making extreme weather the new normal everywhere. As the air warms up, the winds and downpours caused by typhoons become increasingly intense. A series of epic storms just brought everyone to their knees in the Philippines, and in North and South Carolina in the US.
Acknowledging this new climatic pattern, policymakers and real-estate developers along the Chinese coast should be more pragmatic in envisioning post-disaster redevelopment plans. Instead of compensating residents who lost homes and cars to Mangkhut, urban officials and developers should avoid building luxurious condominiums, skyscrapers and shopping malls in vulnerable flood zones.
Second, all municipal governments along the storm path must rethink the conventional framework of crisis management and initiate some institutional changes.
For decades, Macau has been flush with tax revenues from gambling. As the world’s wealthiest territory in terms of GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (US$104,862 last year), its government’s massive budget surplus makes it the envy of any nation. Driven by a lax approach to governance, the ruling elites treat other residents like shareholders and give them generous cash handouts annually.
Hong Kong is more resilient to typhoons thanks to many decades of investment in underground drainage systems. Perhaps it is time for regional political and business leaders to use resources wisely, concentrating on sustainable infrastructure and weather-related disaster prevention.
Third, there was no outbreak of looting and crime in Hong Kong and Macau. Both territories remained calm and orderly. After the storm passed, volunteers came together to help victims.
Wherever self-mobilization took place in a disaster situation, it empowered local communities to take control of the problems. Regional authorities should welcome and encourage such compassionate and energetic efforts from civic society in a post-disaster recovery process.
One way is to formulate emergency evacuation plans and encourage everyone to be more self-reliant. Another is to divide emergency workers and medical professionals into small response teams with the tools and institutional support to deal with climate-related crises.
Only by focusing on the nuts and bolts of pre-disaster preparation and post-disaster reconstruction can these coastal cities cope with another devastating typhoon in the future.
Joseph Tse-Hei Lee is professor of history at Pace University in New York City.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past