Post-typhoon judgement begins

To be honest, I did not believe that an actual typhoon was on its way. In the two years that I have lived in Macau, I have observed the irony of a typhoon warning being hoisted when the weather was beautiful on several occasions. . I was sorely mistaken along with everyone else about the damage to come when the T10 was hoisted around 10:00 a.m. on the day Typhoon Hato descended upon us. While time will be the ultimate judge of our city’s performance in handling the super-storm, I would like to point out a few thoughts to ponder.
The first is, “Thank God for social media!” When the storm was headed our way, residents took to social media to report the news. We were communicating with groups via Facebook, What’sApp, and WeChat messages as we were unable to receive adequate reports from television and radio when we lost power. My cell phone provider was able to keep my cellular data working and so I was never truly removed from communication.
The local TV station did an incredible job of keeping everyone updated through their Facebook page in English, Portuguese, and Chinese. Once the immediate storm had passed, volunteer groups like the International Ladies Club of Macau and the Macau Youth Organization kicked into full gear identifying areas of need and communicating those needs to willing volunteers. Again, thank you social media.
The second point may be incredibly redundant at this stage in our territory’s crisis, but we shall never sit idly by when a typhoon comes near in the future. We all must take the threat seriously and safeguard our homes. Too many windows were demolished in our fair city. It is my understanding that the legal requirement for windows is that the glass must be strong enough to withstand wind speeds of 240-290 kph. It is clear that this construction code may not have been met in the past.
Finally, I would like to make a point about our electricity supply. The majority of our power comes from the Mainland but instead of improving infrastructure over the years, has our electricity company ignored upgrades that should have been made? For such a seemingly successful company, and with a power source connected to the Mainland, should our power and water supply have been so delicate and unstable during our Typhoon Hato crisis? I have serious concerns in this area, but as I mentioned before, only time will be the true judge of our city’s performance.
I can only hope that we will perform better, next time.