Typhoon Hato – One year on | Wong says disaster management ability highly improved

Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak has said that Macau has improved its resistance to natural disasters. Wong’s statement came out yesterday while he was on TDM’s talk show Forum Macau.

The Secretary said he is confident Macau can minimize deaths and injuries if another typhoon like Hato were to hit the city. As for zero deaths and injuries, Wong declared that no government can promise such a thing, although it is obviously the goal of the Macau government.

Wong further remarked that Macau needs to continuously improve its disaster prevention mechanisms and should never cease.

Earlier this month, the first typhoon Signal No. 8 (Tropical Storm Bebinca) was hoisted. Wong considers the government to have done well during the typhoon. However, he believes that Bebinca did not allow Macau authorities to test their real typhoon-management capabilities.

In the Secretary’s opinion, transportation chaos and panic-buying can’t be avoided during natural disasters.

According to the Secretary, the government has set up short-, mid- and long-term plans to combat typhoons and handle safety incidents, following Typhoon Hato last year.

The short-term plan was completed in July.

The government has already completed public consultation of the Civil Protection Law for the mid-term plan.

As for the long-term plan, authorities will focus on building a material storage facility and an emergency building. The government has already chosen a location for the temporary material storage facility and will begin construction soon.

The Civil Protection Law has proposed punishing rumor spreaders, as suggested after Hato.

Wong explained that when there is an emergency, government authorities will be the first to issue clarifications, deeming it necessary to punish intentional rumor spreaders.

Meeting to discuss hazardous material storage

Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak plans to meet with Coloane residents to explain safety measures for the government’s temporary storage of hazardous materials in the Concordia Industrial Park area in Coloane. Associations and residents can apply to participate in the briefing session to be organized by the security authority. According to Wong, in the long-term the government hopes to build a hazardous material storage facility, making use of sea reclamation in order to strictly separate residents from hazardous materials.