Typhoon drill criticized for being unrealistic

Residents leave their Coloane neighborhood and head toward a typhoon shelter during the weekend drill

The vice president of the Macau General Union of Neighborhood Association (UGAMM), Cheong Lai Zhen, criticized the government’s latest typhoon drill for being unrealistic, according to a report by Jornal Cheng Pou.

Last Saturday, several government departments co-organized a typhoon drill. On the following day, Cheong was invited to the Macau Forum to discuss the drill.

During the program, Cheong pointed out that the drill did not involve a single element of tension throughout the proceedings. She also noted that the people involved only managed to escape under an arranged situation.

In Cheong’s opinion, the drill failed to teach people how to quickly escape from chaos during a real disaster.

She also believes that attempts to escape by residents during real typhoons will not resemble this drill.

Cheong hopes that the government can provide different levels of disaster drills in order to increase our residents’ knowledge about evacuations during natural disasters.

Besides Cheong, several attendees at the Macau Forum discussion expressed their hopes that the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau can improve their typhoon alert system to allow residents to be better prepared during typhoon seasons.

However, in response to Cheong’s criticism, a representative of the Unitary Police Service claimed that the drills need to start from a well- organized and orderly scheme.

During the forum, there were also opinions suggesting that the city’s hotels should conduct typhoon drills as well, and that CEM should inspect its electricity supply facilities in advance.