Award recipients recall incidents of typhoons Hato and Mangkhut

Lei Wai with his team of doctors and assistant

Recipients of the SAR’s Medal for Distinguished Service – Medal for Bravery, expressed their gratitude towards the government for honoring their public work, recalling the occurrences of the city’s two strong typhoons.

Tomorrow, the SAR government will award three recipients in this particular category: the Emergency Department of the Conde S. Januario Hospital, the Civil Protection Operations Centre, and Chao Ka Cheong who is second in command of the Fire Services Bureau.

Medals for Distinguished Service are awarded to public entities, organizations or their staff for outstanding performance in their duties or community service.

These awardees will be honored for their works during Typhoon Mangkhut.

According to Lei Wai Seng,  the director of the Emergency Department at the public hospital, the award serves as an encouragement to his team and their performances. 

“Our whole team feels encouraged because that means our years of work are endorsed by the government and the public. […] Emergency is the frontline department, so besides emergency work, we do a lot of works, including preparations for disasters, and each time there is a big event in Macau, my whole team is always preparing for any immediate action for any incident,” Lei told the press.

Kam Chit Soi

“Under abnormal conditions, such as when we face typhoons, my team takes no rest and stay at their duty. During Typhoon Mangkhut, we did a lot of work. The [SAR’s] report said that our medical work is quite prepared and we have a fast action towards [emergencies]. Overall, we thank all the residents and the government’s endorsement,” he added.

The department recalled that during Typhoon Hato, the hospital received approximately 1,000 patients.

“If the government prepares [for typhoons], such as the last time during Typhoon Mangkhut, we only received about ten patients. We are happy, that during that typhoon, we had more medical staff standby compared to Hato. However, the work [we did] was a lot less compared to Hato,” the director recalled.

The second awardee – the Civil Protection Operations Centre (COPC) – pledged that it would continue to ensure safety during future disasters.

According to Kam Chit Soi, sub-commissioner of COPC’s public relations department, improvement works are being carried out:

“We have been continuing the improvement. We purchased a typhoon accident system, we improved our information releasing works and departments communication mechanism.”

“In the future, we will [use] the [recognition] to push forward our work, and hopefully, that we can try our best to ensure their safety during disasters,” she added.

Kam also suggested that the department was more prepared during Typhoon Mangkhut, noting that this year’s works were considered satisfactory and that it is a “payback to our works for the improvement after Typhoon Hato.”

Chao Ka Cheong, second in command of the Fire Services Bureau, acknowledged the works of his colleagues during Typhoon Mangkhut, recalling that the bureau had received approximately 1,000 phone calls during Typhoon Hato, breaking the number of phone calls it recorded in a day.

“It is difficult for us to handle such a large number of calls but we tried our best to help all of them and we handled the disaster by prioritizing which areas needed help the most first,” said Chao.

Chao Ka Cheong (right) points to an ambulance

“A year after Typhoon Hato hit Macau, the COPC reviewed our contingency plan so we had a better emergency response to Typhoon Mangkhut. We also introduced more equipment after Hato in order to deal with future disasters,” the official added.

Chao started working for the Fire Services Bureau in 1987 and assumed the second in command position in 2016, also serving a sting in the Macau Security Force.

Tomorrow, the SAR government will be giving Decorations, Medals and Certificates of Merit awards to 46 individuals and organizations in recognition of, respectively, achievement, outstanding contribution and distinguished service.

The list follows recommendations from the Committee of Nomination of Medals and Honorary Titles.

The awards for Decorations of Honor include the Decoration of Honor – Grand Lotus; the Decoration of Honor – Golden Lotus; and the Decoration of Honor – Silver Lotus. Such awards are for individuals or entities that have made outstanding contributions to the image and reputation of the MSAR.

It will also grant seven types of Medal of Merit for individuals or entities that have made major or excellent contributions in their respective fields.