Mangkhut is one of the strongest tropical cyclones to have occurred anywhere in the world in 2018. Hundreds of people lost their lives and many went missing amidst a spray of storms, rains and landslides. The typhoon couldn’t have struck at a worse moment as thousands of farmers saw their crops washed away in the floods barely a week before harvest. The category 5 typhoon made landfall in the Cagayan region, located in the north eastern area of Philippines and worked its way through Hong Kong, Macau and parts of China’s southern coast, including Guangdong and Guangzhou.
Philippines
Philippines was the worst affected. Since the country is a developing nation, most of the homes in the typhoon affected region weren’t sturdy enough to provide its residents even skeletal levels of shelter from the storm. Rescue teams also had limited access to high end equipment and infrastructure. The losses for the country in terms of damage were estimated at $20 billion, a substantial portion of its annual GDP.
Senior delegates from the embassies of various countries located in Philippines such as South Korea, France, Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, China, Australia and United States offered their heartfelt condolences to the nation devastated by the floods, storms, landslides and widespread destruction that came in the wake of Typhoon Mangkhut.
- Itogon – Bodies were recovered from building structures buried under layers of soil, construction material and debris. Uncontrolled illegal mining in the mountainous region made the area’s surface more vulnerable to impact. Houses and other establishments were severely affected and besides a high death toll, many people also went missing. The use of heavy equipment in recovery measures was ruled out as most of the roads were severely destroyed. This in turn complicated evacuation measures. Rescuing people trapped under layers of debris due to the mudslides became difficult as the soil started hardening quickly under the fierce sun in Philippines’ tropical climate.
- Tuguegarao – Flights had to be cancelled and the airport terminal had to be closed down due to severe infrastructural damage. Many people were killed and others injured. The region where the city is located, Cagayan Valley, a major producer of agricultural products, suffered grave losses due to severe wind and rain that swept through the area.
China
The approaching storm struck panic in the hearts of residents in the Guangdong province, one of the country’s most densely populated provinces. The southern coast of China that lay in the typhoon’s path saw some of its biggest waves ever recorded. Thousands of hectares of cropland were destroyed. Coastal rivers in neighboring areas were on high alert for possible flooding. Damages in China were approximated at a monetary value of roughly $30 billion.
- Guangdong – A bustling province along the southern coast of China and to the north of Hong Kong and Macau, Guangdong felt the major brunt of Typhoon Mangkhut. Millions had to be evacuated and many in need of medical aid were rushed to hospitals. Many flights were cancelled and the Shenzhen and Zhuhai airports had to be closed.
- Guangzhou – The full capacity of all the 18,000 emergency shelters in the city was put to test. A number of trees in the city were uprooted. Commercial establishments in the region were the worst hit and small scale businesses had to suffer major losses due to widespread damage to their merchandize.
Hong Kong
One of the world’s most important financial centers, Hong Kong was severely hit by the category 5 typhoon with road blocks, devastated buildings and heavy floods. The region suffered losses of approximately $20 billion.
Thousands of flights were cancelled. Many homes and business establishments suffered power outages and losses in revenue. Educational institutions such as schools and colleges had to be closed. Activity was resumed only after exhaustive cleaning and maintenance work. Public transport was also severely affected.
The catastrophe seriously exposed the vulnerability of many buildings and high-rises in the typhoon affected regions. Skyscrapers such as the International Finance Centre in Central Hong Kong, the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon and the Ping An Finance Centre in Shenzhen were affected with broken windows and damaged facades despite robust, inbuilt resilience capabilities.
Macau
A major entertainment hub off the coast of Hong Kong, Macau’s vibrant casino business was severely hit, especially between September 14 and 16, as weekends are usually when gambling activity is at its peak. Revenue losses were in the range of $150-200 million along with a fall in stock prices. This was the first time Macau had ever closed gambling operations due to an environmental hazard.
Monetary Losses
Many organizations in the regions hit by the typhoon suffered substantial losses in revenue due to closed operations, damage to assets, equipment and disruption of public utility services.
- Insurance claims in the typhoon hit zones registered all time highs. In Hong Kong, requests for damage and losses coverage ranged in the order of $1 billion. This severely hit the stock prices for many insurance firms.
- The SSE Composite Index, a benchmark index for stocks traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, hit a four year low.
- The impact on rice harvest in the Philippines severely affected the local food industry and the economy as well. The country is one of the largest importers of rice in the world and was hoping to curb inflation in retail prices by increasing local rice production.
- Valuetronics Holdings Limited is an integrated electronics manufacturer with a wide suite of products in telecommunications, supply chain support, consumer and commercial electronics. The company had to temporarily cease production at its Guangdong facility due to prolonged power outages resulting from floods in the area.
- Tencent Holdings, a Chinese multinational with a variety of business interests in Internet related value added services, user oriented operating strategies and services, saw a severe slump in its share prices.
- Commercial airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Air China and China Southern Airlines also saw their stock prices affected in the market. Thousands of flights had to be cancelled or rescheduled in all the major airports, leading to a logistical nightmare.
- Financial institutions of considerable scale and operations such as China Construction Bank Corp. and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. were also hit in the aftermath of Typhoon Mangkhut.
- Dayawan Petrochemical Park which houses major refineries including the CNOOC Huizhou refinery and Sinopec’s refineries in Maoming, Dongxing and Hainan, had to stop production.
- Activity in all the ports along the southern Chinese coasts was brought to a standstill. Loading, unloading and bunkering operations were stalled. Ships were evacuated from harbors for shelter. Hundreds of luxury boats, ships, kayaks, dinghies and other water borne vehicles were severely destroyed. The facilities of many coastal establishments were also not spared.