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.
03:03
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).
Early warnings and preparations depend for their effectiveness on public cooperation. A visitor could be excused for perceiving a credibility gap.
On the one hand, normal commercial, educational and social life is suspended because it is deemed too dangerous. While on the other, people appear increasingly unafraid of venturing out, even as family groups on their “day off” during typhoons.
Meanwhile, the city loses a day of business, partly because a lot of brokers’ back office work remains manual. Of course, an employer has to be mindful of potential liability if someone is killed or injured when they are required to work during a T8.
But the closure of markets in an international business hub prompts reflection on the switch to working from home during the pandemic.
Surely such a method can be better utilised to keep the city ticking over during typhoons, which may become more frequent with global warming.
The government needs to strive for a balance between keeping the city running competitively and making it as safe as possible during a typhoon.
It deserves support for its present approach, but it should not rule out exploring reforms to enable more people in more occupations to work from home, based on pandemic experience.
Hong Kong is not the only financial centre to be disabled by typhoons. Others include Taipei and Manila, and Tokyo which also has earthquakes.
Unlike Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo rely on declarations by the mayor and stock market governors respectively. Manila also closes for typhoons without a clear system on its website.
With Web 3.0 set to take fintech to a new level, and Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po chairing a task force to promote its development, it may be time to plug gaps in digitalisation.
