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| What used to be the scaffolding next to our school |
Hello again! It's been quite the long absence from writing. I suppose I didn't really put the time aside to keep it up, perhaps I was content with my surroundings and didn't think to share any new happenings of China-not-China. I would say sorry, but I'm an adult and owe an apology to no one but myself so just be lucky with what you get.
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| Wind was strong enough to push this over |
In the world of a teacher's head, September is the start of a brand new year. New students, new school policies, new colleagues, and new stories to tell about each of them. Unfortunately, this story is less of the silly type and more of the serious type.
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| And knock this down |
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| And rip down trees |
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| And twist this like a stick |
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| Or just take most of them away completely |
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| This is the north end of town |
As a disclaimer - This was a significant natural disaster - There are photos and videos below that represent the intensity of the storm, and accordingly may be uncomfortable to see.Typhoon Hato was the most powerful storm to hit Macau in half a century. Here in Asia, they have a different system to categorize storms. Typhoons, Hurricanes and Cyclones are all the same thing, just with different names. I was not present for the storm, a story I will explain in a later, more light-hearted post. However, the vast majority of my colleagues and friends were in Macau, some at work or away from their homes when it hit.
In a bit of political dissent (something I don't often do on public forums), the Macau government was very late in issuing a serious storm warning to residents. If you follow local news at home, you may recall forecasters tracking storms and predicting their landfall and intensity, usually giving lots of warning time. For whatever reason, that didn't take place in the South China sea last week.
On the morning of Wednesday, August 23rd, even after Hong Kong and mainland China had emergency warnings issued that closed businesses, schools & government offices, in Macau there was no serious warning until the storm was almost upon the city. Locals were ill-prepared, some people were even caught at work, out running errands or even in the streets. You might notice buses & vehicles still travelling the roads, and pedestrians trying to make their way to their homes/shelter. This is the consequence of such a late warning being issued. There is still some debate over why things transpired the way that they did (indecisive weather services, a reluctance on the part of the many casinos to provide typhoon weather overtime pay to its many employees, etc.), I hear different things as I watch my facebook feed. Ultimately, a very embarrassing and shameful job on the part of the government. (Let's hope I don't lose my work visa for saying that...)
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| Just a few of the knocked in windows |
During the actual chaos (as you can see from the video), the winds were kind of very nuts. Blowing trucks over, ripping trees apart & out of the ground, and sending debris soaring through the air. One particular apartment complex (where quite a few of my friends live) had the vast majority of its windows on all its south-facing buildings blown in (as in, the wind pushed the large panes of glass so hard they shattered and blew into the apartments. I've heard a few funny stories of the shoddy build quality at what presents itself as an upscale living community, but that is the most surprising (and concerning) bit of news I've heard in that respect. I've been told stories by friends & colleagues of having to sit in the bathrooms/corridors of their apartments to stay away from potentially harmful blow-ins. The fact that the wind also carries chunks of trees, garbage, shop signs, and random rusty metal bits (courtesy of the construction sites which leave them lying around), I'm not surprised that a lot of people were worried about their buildings being peppered with not-so-fun surprises.
You may have heard about Hurricane Harvey that recently hit Texas and the Caribbean. In comparison, wind speeds and intensity was similar (Harvey was a little stronger), while damage costs were much higher in the U.S. & Central America largely due to the more widespread flooding. Nasty stuff.
Macau is now looking quite a bite more bare and ravaged. Trees have been largely torn down or dismembered, many shops are missing their large metal hanging signs, vehicles (especially buses) have lost a lot of glass, and there is of course the flood damage to neighbourhoods in the north end of town.
I'm grateful that those I know in Macau stayed safe and were unhurt by the storm, although I can't say that about all the locals. Definitely a powerful and humbling force of nature that is not often seen.
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