AL Plenary | Authorities promise steadfast reaction to storms, updated warning system

The consequences of Typhoon Hato and the responsibilities of government officials in the wake of the typhoon were the main topic of discussion during yesterday’s plenary session at the Legislative Assembly. The meeting was convened to discuss 16 spoken enquiries posed by several lawmakers around October last year.

Lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong called on the government to explain what actions had been taken to remedy the “notable shortcomings” in the alert and prevention system used by the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG). Ng also asked how the government plans to improve their ability to evaluate and attribute an appropriate degree of responsibility to the relevant officials. Ng also noted flaws in the operation of the Committee for Responding to Unforeseen Incidents, a committee that is led by the Chief Executive (CE), and raised questions about weaknesses in the drainage infrastructure in the Inner Harbor area.

Lawmaker Ella Lei wanted to know more about the government’s response concerning the measures that were proposed to address the serious flaws which became apparent during the passage of Typhoon Hato.

The commissioner-general of the Unitary Police Services, Ma Io Kun, and the interim director of the SMG, Raymond Tam, responded that a decision had been made to categorize storm surges as a more severe threat, reflected as an alert level of five, (instead of an alert level of three).

Tam also noted the cooperation with cartography services to review the altimetry (the science of measuring altitudes) quotas regarding potential flood risks.
Tam highlighted that typhoon warnings will now be issued three hours earlier than has been done previously, as this extra time will “allow the population to prepare itself for the storms.” This measure is undertaken in conjunction with an “increase in cooperation with Guangdong authorities,” said Tam.

In response to the two lawmakers, the director of the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) Li Canfeng, also noted that the government is “evaluating” whether there is a possibility to elevate the existing structures, so that they will be able to successfully prevent flooding.

As noted by Li, there were issues not only in the Inner Harbor; the dikes in the areas of Areia Preta and Coloane were also not high enough to contain the tides.
“In the Inner Harbor we have the additional problem with drainage. We are finding locations to proceed with the necessary works to improve in this matter,” Li added.

One of the other measures noted was the change to the policy concerning  the frequency of wind speed evaluation by the SMG. SMG will be required to evaluate the changes in wind speed at more regular intervals and these changes will need to reported to the public every 10 minutes, instead of every hour.

On the second round of questions, Ng reaffirmed that there was a tendency from higher government officials, including the CE, to “hide”. Ng noted the retirement of former SMG head Fong Soi Kun, whom he said lacked transparency. Ng feels that his criticism was “confirmed later with the suspension of the process [of retirement].” Further, Ng noted that the contingency plan from the government “has not been effective and has caused suffering to victims.”

The Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak replied to Ng’s accusations, “we never had any intention to cover one thing with another thing [responsibility with retirement]. There were already installed disciplinary procedures to the leaders on the line. We are still in [too] early [a] stage to be able to attribute responsibilities.”

Wong also took the opportunity to mention that the “surveillance system” installed recently in the streets will be “integrated” as one of the mechanisms that the new Civil Protection Bureau can resort to to prevent and respond to emergencies. This surveillance will be in addition to the existing communications system.

“We will distribute 60 walkie-talkies through the community associations in order to establish close contact with the authorities in case other kinds of communication experience difficulties or fail,” Wong said, noting that such equipment is already being prepared.
Wong also refuted the idea  that the CE is “hiding from responsibilities”, noting that he has been leading the process since the start and that he has “recognized since the first moment our insufficiencies.”

As the debate opened to the intervention of other lawmakers, several proposals were then aired. The first came from Zheng Anting, who noted that the “major issue” was with the alert system. According to Zheng, “we should follow what the neighboring regions [in mainland China] did the previous day [August 22], which was to evacuate the populations from the lower and most vulnerable areas.” Zheng claimed that such measures could have saved lives and prevented major destruction.

Lawmakers Pereira Coutinho and Pang Chuan proposed that the automatic activation of the Civil Protection Service, which happens when  typhoon signal eight is issued should have happened at an earlier stage. They also proposed that the automatic activation should be lowered to a signal three warning in order to give enough time for authorities to convene and discuss what measures to take before a signal eight is issued.