Evacuation traffic scene in Asia when cat 5 super typhoons approach vs when large hurricanes strike eastern/southern US? (earthquakes, days)
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I would be curious is any one curious why don’t we hear on the news of massive evacuation exodus traffic jams in the Far East when cat 5 super typhoons threaten to make landfall in heavily populated areas.
Tokyo, Osaka, Tainjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang province, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Surrounding Guangdong, and Saigon all are mega metro areas in Typhoon ally that had been in the direct path of cat 5 supertyphoons a number of times.
Though interestingly at least according to news coverage, it appears a much smaller percentage of the enormous population in the affected areas are evacuated and they are mostly poor and often aboriginal villagers living next to mountain streams, rivers, or the ocean, fisherman, or farmers with farms in flood plains that gets inundated.
So are Asians much smarter in where they choose to build? I noticed they don’t build large amounts of low topped houses that are barely higher than the waves nearby on the coast line. I cringe when I see these next to even San Diego beaches even though hurricanes hardly hit there. And despite building heavily to meet the growing population they don’t build major population centers on barrier islands like Miami beach or Galveston or like the Carolina coasts.
Or does the news media over there not cover these things. Yet they cover traffic jams at other times, remember Beijing traffic jam, or Lunar New Years migration. I am curious do Asian countries or China contraflow roads and rail lines there as well when a typhoon approaches.
I could imagine the chaos if same percentage of population in Asia evacuated as those along the Carolinas or Florida Coast does they could be looking at complete breakdown of the transportation infrastructure as roads or rail lines would be overwhelmed much worse than the Golden Weeks or Lunar New Years. Should 3+ million in Tokyo or Shanghai proper decided to head inland. It would be much worse than Texas when Rita hit.
Id also be curious how many living in those Far East cities leave voluntarily for a typhoon not be cause they are in mortal danger but they rather stay with friends or relatives in a less affected area rather than enduring days without power.
people in the path of the typhoons in the Philippines are evacuated only to higher grounds and sturdy structures like gyms and schools.
its not like the continental US where you can drive to the nearest state that is not being affected by storms.
except for China, all Asian countries within the typhoon belt are small. take for example HK, with 8M population, in an island. you mean to say evacuate that many people to Mainland China? by boat?
people in the path of the typhoons in the Philippines are evacuated only to higher grounds and sturdy structures like gyms and schools.
its not like the continental US where you can drive to the nearest state that is not being affected by storms.
except for China, all Asian countries within the typhoon belt are small. take for example HK, with 8M population, in an island. you mean to say evacuate that many people to Mainland China? by boat?
China is huge, and they have the most extensive expressway(even more extensive than US) and train system in the world. A train can take you hundreds of miles in 2 hours. But out of 30+ million of the population affected by hurricane force winds when super typhoons approach usually less than 1 million actually evacuate from their homes. And rarely more than 40 die as a result of a super typhoon a very low number when comparing how many are affected. Its also very easy for Hong Kong, China residents to flee inland towards the mainland by driving, bus, or train as there are plenty of overland expressway and rail links and most residents or about 90% in the SAR are ethnic Chinese who hold compatriot visa documents that allows them to freely travel inland even across the border. Which about half a million people cross daily. So for most residents there is need to involve boats unless you live on outer islands such as Lamma island.
As for other countries while its true that Japan is Island country. But Japan's size is actually similar to California, but with a much more extensive expressway and train system. Hopping on the train can get you hundreds of miles east or west too within a couple of hours well enough away from the epicenter of the storm's fury.
Interestingly very few people die staying put in the Far east. Yet 140 were killed by Hurricane Rita despite how a much smaller population was affected. Many died needlessly on the roads or indirect cause of death. And Sadly they would had lived should they had stayed put. Philippines and Burma are big exceptions to the rule of the low death rates. Though the Philippines is actually large. So its possible to head to high ground away from the most destructive path of typhoons as well.
Most people in the US end up fleeing to places that still end up flooding and getting storm damage anyways unless they are lucky enough to get a flight as the traffic out is just too bad to get far with the Interstates severely overwhelmed well beyond its capacity. And often the hurricane's center ends up turning towards where they ended up. Id be interested in what happens when Australia gets hit by cyclones as this continent resembles the US in many ways.
Last edited by citizensadvocate; 09-17-2018 at 05:38 PM..
Why does one have to flee when a Category 4 or 5 typhoon/hurricane approaches?
Mass exodus to a place where resources are more scarce, such proposal merely increases the burden of that place. Every time I see people fleeing en masse from Florida/ Carolina/Louisiana, I can't help asking why don't those states adopt more aggressive preventive measures to tackle hurricane since it is almost a yearly incident?
Japan is prone to earthquake. But do they flee when earthquake comes? Most of Holland is below sea level. So should their people flee too?
One BIG factor to consider is that people in Asian cities tend to live in high-rises, or at least multi-story buildings.
So even though Taipei, for instance, receives typhoons that are at least as strong as those in Houston, because so many people in Taiwan live in high-rises, if the first floor of a 20 story apartment building gets flooded, only 5% of residents are affected.
Whereas in Houston, the vast majority of people live in single and two-level homes. If a flood happens, then everyone's house is affected.
Also, high-rises are much sturdier against the wind than single-story houses are.
This is why people in Asia seldom flee during a typhoon.
A poster mentioned why Asians almost never evacuate for typhoons as they live in concrete highrises.
Interestingly in Florida based on media reports officials recommended even highrises are unsafe that the occupants evacuate them during Hurricane Irma. And they also recommend as they are mostly in storm surge zones A B and C Pretty stupid if you ask me as why live in such a expansive sturdy tall building, especially one built after well upgraded Florida hurricane building codes with even the windows hurricane proof and have backup generator in the event the power/ a/c goes out, that allows you to be well above the flood line only to need to get stuck in traffic like everyone else to evacuate to a low building somewhere else. Just because construction cranes from the neighboring building might fall on your building?
This suggestion never be recommended in the media for residents in Hong Kong island or Shanghai even in the face of super typhoon Mangkhut which also caused building damage and some construction scaffolding to collapse. Apparently I remember Hong Kong residents who move to Miami say the media hype makes it feel much more scary to ride out a large hurricane in Florida than a comparable supertyphoon in Hong Kong. And Asian cities and China has lots and lots of cranes as they are still at a massive building spree of high rise buildings.
As for those in low buildings, I would be curious why they keep building them on barrier islands such as Miami Beach, Florida Keys, Galveston, and off the coast of the Carolinas. If they know these are going to be endangered every large hurricane as on normal days even waves can get higher than the tops of these buildings sometimes as high as 20ft, Apparently they don't build like this off most off the coast of Asia or near the coastline.
Worst of all there is very limited road access to these areas and they get really overwhelmed. Charleston only has one true interstate it doesn't really reach the barrier islands most other roads are narrow roads. Florida keys have just one narrow road barely above sea level. Miami Beach only has a few roads out and they get super congested even on a normal everyday rush hour or during holidays and weekends.
California won't evacuate for earthquakes as well. The Holland does evacuate the most low lying areas when flooding occurs but they don't create massive traffic jams while doing so.
Last edited by citizensadvocate; 09-29-2018 at 01:04 PM..
One BIG factor to consider is that people in Asian cities tend to live in high-rises, or at least multi-story buildings.
So even though Taipei, for instance, receives typhoons that are at least as strong as those in Houston, because so many people in Taiwan live in high-rises, if the first floor of a 20 story apartment building gets flooded, only 5% of residents are affected.
Whereas in Houston, the vast majority of people live in single and two-level homes. If a flood happens, then everyone's house is affected.
Also, high-rises are much sturdier against the wind than single-story houses are.
This is why people in Asia seldom flee during a typhoon.
Ha Ha Run from water hide from the wind. Expecting people to evacuate while they living or staying at a floor higher than the water would ever reach is unrealistic. In Asia authorities would never ever think of trying to evacuate high rises even those next to the water.
Yet in NYC and Florida the authorities plead those living in flooding zones even in buildings high above the water would ever reach to leave as well. The reason "Cranes may fall," I would guess residents living in Chinese coastal cities including Hong Kong should flee as Chinese cities are filled with construction cranes due to its building boom.
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