2 A Review of Natural Disasters of the Past ()*+#,- A typhoon passing to the south of Hong Kong in 1927 2345 6+789:;< =>&?@ ince the 1980s, Hong Kong’s sustained economic development has led to " 1980 #$%&'()*+,-.("/%012345(6789 Ssubstantial improvements in its ability to withstand natural catastrophes. !:;;<=>?@AB%C1970#$DEFG%&'(H/I24(JK Natural disasters before the mid-1970s seriously affected the development of L3MN>OPC 1883 #2QRSTUG%V+WXYZ[\]^_`abH Hong Kong. Before the setting up of the Hong Kong Observatory in 1883, cdefg%hFij+klmn 1883 #FG(o345pNq,r>stu there was no specialised department to observe, record and disseminate o345vwxhyS(z5%{|}&'~•€c(•‚bƒ„…†(…‡% information on typhoons. Therefore it was very difficult to gather information ˆ 1884 ‰ 2002 #&'HŠ(o345‹Œ%•+Ž(•‚••‘sde_’ systematically on casualties caused by natural disasters before 1884. Based on the official publications by the Hong Kong government and civilian reports, “_”•_–—b˜™š›;œ> the natural calamities that occurred between 1884 to 2002 have been generally categorised into five main types — typhoons, severe rainstorms, very cold, very hot and very dry weather. The following sections are attempts to study in depth how such natural disasters have wreaked havoc on society. !" •#(6‰10ž%&'ŸxI de¡¢>de%£¤$¥¦(§¨%©ª«¬ SP•®¯°±Yb²³(´—µ¥¶·%ª¸(¹º»¼2‰¼½E¾š%¿ Typhoons À(ÁÂÃÄÅƳ°ÅÇ(¥ÈÁªÉ%ÊË©oÌÍΕÅÂϲÐbD From June to October every year, Hong Kong is subjected to threats of Ѳ³¿ÀÒ9:%de©ÓP³Å¬S(’e>ÔÕDÑoÖFAn×+س typhoons. Using the terminology of modern-day meteorology, typhoons are mÙ(ÁÚÛ+de(•‚%ÜÝmÙ(ÁÚ»V+de(`Þ%•ßàde( ‘tropical cyclones’ that form over the western part of the North Pacific. They ¬SƳ°ÅÇ(¥È+áâã(Žä> can last from a few days to several weeks. Their directions of movement are basically in line with the direction of the large-scale air currents above the —µ¥¶¾ªåxæsde%C•®¯°±YbDѲ³%;ç×+è¼( 23 ocean, tending to move northwards from the seas around the Philippines —µ¥¶xH/‰deéê> ëì 1949 # 6 žÌÍÎÑí¥¦xî(ïå% towards Southeast Asia and the South China Sea. Thus, typhoons refer to —µ¥¶•ëìÔe7(éðñsòó (ôõö÷ 2.1)> storms that are formed over the sea. Since ancient times only gazettes from China’s coastal regions have provided information about typhoons. No gazettes # 2.1ÿ—µ¥¶ñœÆ!"#eóvì÷ 24 from the inland regions had any description of typhoons, implying that typhoons $%&'"( )*+", are weather systems closely related to the ocean. -. / /0 1. / /0 Tropical cyclones do not always develop into full-fledged typhoons. In —µ$¥% 41–62 22–33 6–7 ó the western North Pacific and the South China Sea, only about half of the —µe’ 63–87 34–47 8–9 ó é&—µe’ 88–117 48–63 10–11 ó tropical cyclones develop into typhoon strength.23 At the international de 118 'FÅ 64 'FÅ 12 ó meteorology conference held in the Philippines in June 1949, tropical cyclones •‚Aøù ! were classified into four categories according to wind speeds. úû&'2QR%üdeý%&'% 1992 %þ 8 > " # $ % & ' A Review of Natural Disasters of the Past 56 57 24 Table 2.1 Tropical Cyclone Classification — Wind Speeds and the Beaufort Wind Scale 23456 Maximum Sustained Wind Speed Beaufort Scale km/h knot 25 Tropical Depression 41–62 22–33 Force 6–7 DÑÖÚ(n³Å¬S’e(`Þ%F)*+,-./(ü²0Úý +Ž´1 Tropical Storm 63–87 34–47 Force 8–9 e·(2as34%+#5s´1e·6Ó789:Ue>Ô;Q<a=>? Severe Tropical Storm 88–117 48–63 Force 10–11 Typhoon 118 or above 64 or above Force 12 샄@Ae%ABÔòÁUe8%ªC1e%DFE%FžG%Ô‰ Source: H%IJKL¾M%;BFJ%NBIJ> 26 Royal Observatory, Hong Kong, Typhoons, Hong Kong, 1992, p. 8. •O*POQR,`ŒAe(S7T%U+VŒAe¬SG>(o3¤¦27 ? WXUY%;eb+³ZE[\]e^%Ö8UCAe%_Ô`òÁU Origins of Nomenclature e%ÖaAe%+:eb+cd;“ep%M‰fghi%jklmn o%Ôp=qrUsB%aJAt%u³U8v:%wxaye> Of the ancient Chinese texts discussing storms that were formed over the sea, 28 the earliest one can be traced to Nanyue zhi (Gazette of South China),25 ‰PAexz{sde%}|}~ü•(€ý w5s´ ·© 34£F¬ compiled by Shen Huaiyuan in the Jin Dynasty. In Shen’s work, the so-called •e’U‚>%>zƒ„sA?´ %…†ã%³U4e8%\(ƒpA>·à ‘big’ storms meant storms feared by people. The original excerpt is translated ‡ˆ‰ü›Š‹ý29 +Þ?´"Œ8{ e% •Ž%••U6·% •´ e·Æ below: ‘•(´de·’“%€ ”•–æSde>—˜™šPü"›•Úý30 D8+ `Þ e?´A%\œs %•s…>·—žŸù´Ap %•Ž>·ü )ý8 According to unofficial sources, there are many jufeng (violent storms). Jufeng means wind coming from four directions, with a +´er=Ž·(`Þ>—¡¢£ü¤Z2¥ýù´¦¦'CžŸCA%§p % change of tone this can also mean ‘fearful wind’. They occur in the €\Ce…%…BŽU••8>·•+ŽA_ ¨©(••%ªG[¾«î¬% seventh month. When they come, dogs and roosters make no sound 5sAe;•/p B%@F®(T¬> for three days. The big ones last for seven days, and the small ones last for three days.26 ¯A°±ÁÚ%@FAea³Åé&(’e•«Fde{>AeP‘mx{ p´²e·_´e…·'´e’·%¡¢£Pü¤Z2¥ý31 ³Ý´„]?´² In the Yuan Dynasty, Lou Yuanli, recorded the immense force of the ³µ+²e%AB²Uœ8>´²e·x•rpAe¶·¸<%[PW•¹PX storms and also described the phenomena before and after the formation of U„%FXs²>·AePº_R»8•³Å;e¼½´e…·'´e’·> 32 the jufeng:27 |}“$&'¥¾•‚(`Þ%¿ŠP•®¯°±YÀDѲ³(—µ¥ Between summer and autumn, the blowing of high winds and sea ( ) sand gives rise to fengchao (wind tides); the ancient people knew this ¶%@F typhoon de aU>+]:£¨©øPÖ$ÁÂÃÄ Typhon (Å as jufeng. The name jufeng refers to winds coming from all four ÆÇÈ) ª‚Ò 8+5sɨh£(typhoonª‚øP‘•´;e·'´Êe·> directions. Jufeng are usually accompanied by heavy rain. They even ËÌ8Í£ typhoon ª‚%FÉ8ÎÏÐ (William Dampier) P 1687 # 7 ž uproot trees, flatten crops, destroy houses and damage river 4JÑÒüu³J`ýª(s34>1697#ÓÔp(ü³ÅÕÖ×Øý (A Voyage embankments. They first appear like a broken rainbow, known as Around the World)%UFtyphoon¬•é&(’e>ÙÚ×2DEF>%DÑ_ ! jumu (mother of high winds). Mariners, when they see this " &'_ÌÍÎ_JÄbÛÑš¥¦RvHŠP²DѳÀ±•®¯°(—µ¥ phenomenon, call it fanfeng (sailing winds). # ¶%Ül{s typhoon (de)> $ Jufeng is also known as taifeng. According to Tai Tong of the Song Dynasty, % &'FT(mÙ%ve7éÝ(—µ¥¶8+¾e({]?1805#É³Þ who wrote the Liushu gu (Ancient Stories From Six Books),28 the name fengbei & ' A Review of Natural Disasters of the Past was the earliest term used to describe a big storm. Later the name was !" (Francis Beaufort) ßå(ü!"eóý (Beaufort scale of wind force) ˆ ೯á 10 â(eãsä%ñs 12 ó%å 12 óeãs•NH 118 €æFÅ% 58 erroneously passed down as ju. ‘The name bei, meaning disastrous winds from 59 the sea, was mistaken as ju by popular books.’ In the Ming work, Wuza cu,29 {s hurricane force wind (Ae)Ò¿ŠP±¡êçè³á_éêC;±°À the editor Xie Zhaozhe wrote that the Fujian people call windstorms as beifeng, •®¯°ÏY•e7Î 12óeã(—µ¥¶%ª¸l{shurricane (Ae)> because of their jolting nature. The pronunciation of beifeng in Fujian dialect +] hurricane (Ae) ª‚©–æoDñÌò¨ hurrican (óô)ª‚%DQõ closely resembles that of taifeng in Cantonese. Thus, beifeng in the course of pAe%FöP•®¯°±YÀ²Dѳ(—µ¥¶>ÔÕ÷¬©Aeø'de time became taifeng. A Qing man, Yu Jingxi in his Fuzhou fuzhi (Local Gazette Ü©ÓWXU„%Go³°(Çe> of Fuzhou),30 also mentioned the beifeng wind and said that ju was popularly known as bei, and was also called bao. Another Qing man, Yang Shen, said 1947#FG%¡¢&'(deùV+zúªºa>1947#[%sÙöeH that ju was written as bei, and was pronounced as bei. In the Buddhist text, ‘red EѤ(¨û'FÅ(de%•®¯°±Yb²DѳÙëüýþ£ñÑŽèÿ winds like bei’ were also mentioned. A Qing author, Yin Guangren in his !de"#D$ (Joint Typhoon Warning Center) h%å(ea÷%sC& book, Aomeng jilue (A Collection of Records of Macao), mentioned that Yang Ù¬S(•ª'—µ¥¶ºa>&÷Oò() 23 'Ao¾emÙ(*+a©( Shen equated jufeng with beifeng, and was colloquially called fengbao (the S%•(a{ñöFÉQ©t,-./%0ÈzÍ£%‰Pa©Ä1Æde(e reporting of big winds); bao was a changed tone for bei. The change of tone ãéêÜV+Žä>eªa©ª¸xC92'a©Í£>234£%§38x+5 between ju and bei caused a great deal of controversy. Those who thought 67ä88ª9µAá;:j(dea©%xz;RPa<FT%V+z234 that jufeng should be named as beifeng, usually used prosody books to support Í£%F=>[?@(AB> their arguments. 1979#[%ea÷(a©%FC*a©YD./%ªE<F*+a©s— Scholars, who edited local gazettes, usually named severe storms from the seas as jufeng and seldom called them taifeng. Jufeng in Guangdong region µ¥¶ºa(²F>C:UG%P•èG±®¯°¬S(—µ¥¶%ÜF*H( 33 were also known as jiufeng (old winds), fengbao (the reporting of big winds), or a{ºa%•²èG±®¯°(—µ¥¶wÍ£CHa©> 2000#1ž1J% fengbao (violent storms). Yin Guangren in his book, Aomeng jilue,31 quoted ªIOJKL_DÑ_•Û_&'_JÄ_MN_¤Z_OA±Ð_âPQR± another scholar Lu Yinchuan who said that in the southern seas, there would Ð_ÌÍÎ_²Û_SÑ_ñÑb0² 14 'mÙ%•Ù<T) 10 'U 140 'a be jiufeng every year, and the name jufeng was just a mistaken term for jiufeng. {h(S(—µ¥¶a<%V$, 1996 ‰ 1999 #E„hþ£(—µ¥¶ºa However, jiufeng could also mean the jufeng season, which started from summer ÷>Wa<¾XYZ,)mÙ(ƒ[5\%eH]^_,—µ¥¶éê(`a% and ended in autumn. By autumn, such winds were so frequent that they bé,Ùë„(!p> literally became jiu (old). Jufeng among the people of Fujian and Taiwan were also known as fengbao (the reporting of big winds) or fengbao (violent storms).32 According to recent Hong Kong meteorological data, a majority of the 9:4;< tropical cyclones formed in the western North Pacific and South China Sea |}cd (Gordon E.