A comment I saw recently raised a very interesting question. It was this:
“Why didn't China during the last ten years learn two important things from the 2014 typhoon to better prepare itself for this devastating 2024 typhoon by building an extensive network of underground roads, rails, power stations and generators, hospitals, schools, shopping centre, emergency shelters and also wind turbines to harness such strong wind forces into electricity?”
There is very little preparation you can do for a once in a generation event,. Hainan got hit by the worst typhoon in recent history, in fact, it wasn’t just worse that the 2014 Typhoon that hit the island, it was the worst typhoon to hit any part of China since 1949. It went through Hainan and caused billions of dollars in damage as well as even more deaths in Vietnam too. This was no ordinary event.
The answer is simple: China was as well prepared for this as it is possible to be, the damage done is extensive but that's what nature does. Hainan is an island province, like all tropical islands, it will get hit by events such as this from time to time but rebuilding the entire island's infrastructure underground would probably have cost 100 times more than the repairs of the damage here and would not have saved a single one of the four lives lost.
There were 25,000 homes are damaged in Wenchang city, how do you prepare for that? Entire plantations of crops are destroyed and the economic impact will be in the billions of USD, how do you prepare for that? The military swept into action working with locals in mitigation during the event and relief in the aftermath. The reality is, no country can prepare in advance for an event of such magnitude.
What preparation can be done was done: Underground shelters are already in place, every city in China has them, schools may have been damaged but no lives were lost in any of them because, in preparation for the event, all the kids were told to stay home and schools were closed the day before the typhoon hit.
Despite this being a terrible event, there were only 4 deaths in China because there were regular warnings and alerts given by mobile phone, by TV and radio. Training videos and training in schools have been provided for years on what to do in this event and how to manage your own property to minimise damage, but it will still happen. I’ve read that 20 people were killed in the Philippines and more than 220 killed in Vietnam. This is not about criticism of either country, they experienced a disastrous event but it does appear that China was better prepared than their neighbours. The death toll is likely to rise from those numbers as many are still missing, and that includes China too.
In Guangdong, where I live, 300 kilometres away, warnings were sent to my phone and information about what to do if the typhoon turned in our direction was in all media, local, and regional. Primary schools and kindergartens in my area were closed on Friday and outdoor events were all cancelled, just in case and we're 300 kilometres away - that's how to prepare for events such as this, by training, by mitigation, by preparation and by understanding how dangerous such an event can be and acting to reduce risks.
No matter what is done, it will never be enough to prevent the ravages of nature when nature chooses to go on the rampage.
You also mention that China could have installed wind turbines, and yes they have, but the images of the amount of damage this kind of typhoon can do were all over Chinese media, the winds of typhoon Yagi at some moment exceeded Force 17 and one wind farm construction site, which was not yet operational, was destroyed. In all cases of typhoons, hurricanes or cyclones, whatever name you give them, wind turbines will switch off once the wind reaches a speed which the turbines can no longer cope with, usually about 55mph, you can’t collect energy from these turbines when the winds are out of control. A UN report on the disaster describes winds of 133mph, that’s 217kph.
The other important thing is not what happens during a disaster such as this, it’s how the country responds to it. China has an incredible response: Seven emergency district control centres were immediately put into operation. 740 PLA police officers, these are the “SWAT” squad of China’s finest police officers were sent to the island to assist. Military, from bases on the island and other regions, were immediately sent there. Hundreds of repair teams crossed to the island on the first ferries, which were closed to ordinary passengers but used for emergency crews only. For power supplies alone, three and a half thousand people in 27 teams went from other cities inside of Guangdong province.
It will take a long time to recover from such an event but another thing we won’t see in Western media is how China is also working with Vietnam to assist their problems.
It’s also worth noting that, despite this one getting the most news, it’s the 11th to hit China this season, typhoons don’t normally make international news, because the preparation China undertakes to prevent disasters of this magnitude means the typhoon usually blows through, leave damage, some injuries and sometimes deaths but rarely to the extent that this one did.
So, despite there being no such thing as a stupid question, this one comes pretty close.
As you mentioned a not overly clever question. I was in Australia during the terrible flooding in Lismore and northern NSW and southern Qld.
The lack of preparation in managing the disaster become obvious very quickly. Many folks stranded on their roof tops for many hours, insufficient rescue personnel etc.
In fact many locals took their own boats and kayaks out to help rescue people.
Asking why China wasn't prepared when as an Australian this person was well aware of his own country's failure, is hypocrisy in the extreme.
So, yes it was a stupid and spiteful question!
Exactly! Thank you Jerry for sharing! 👍❤️💯