Chui Sai On (left) and Lionel Leong (right)
Typhoon Hato’s passage through Macau on August 23, has potentially caused damage amounting to MOP11.5 billion, the Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong revealed yesterday. A press conference organized by the “Commission for Reviewing and Monitoring the Improvements of the Response Mechanism to Major Disasters,” which is chaired by Chief Executive Chui Sai On, was held to discuss the review of the mechanism of response to major disasters and follow up and improvement committee.
Leong spoke to the press regarding an evaluation of the completed clean-up works and also discussed the main priorities for the secretariat that he heads. According to figures based on an initial estimation by the Statistics and Census Service, “there are many indirect losses related to the suspension of activity, operations and break in sales that will be impossible to calculate at this time,” said Leong.
Further clarifying the figure, Lionel Leong said that of the MOP11.47b loss forecasted currently, a total of MOP8.31b is related to direct losses while MOP3.16b is related to indirect losses.
Although he acknowledged that there is still much work to be done for a full recovery, Leong reaffirmed that it is expected the damage will not put the region’s economic performance in a critical condition.
“We estimate that the Macau [economy] in general terms [should] continue to keep its recovery with a tendency of a stable growth of one digit through all this year,” the secretary said.
Reviewing the current status of the government subsidies to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Leong said that until September 5 there were, registered at the Fund for Industrial Development and Commercialization (FDIC), a total of 10,544 applications regarding support measures to SMEs. Of these, a total of 3,146 were already approved, involving subsidies totaling MOP157.3 million. Additionally, Leong noted that these applications for support measures disclosed that affected SMEs and professionals reported a total of MOP3.6 billion dollars in damage, an average of MOP344,000 per company.
Leong also noted that the Monetary Authority of Macao has established a hotline for support with insurance claim processing. According to Leong, a total of 1,284 insurance claim requests had been lodged by September 4, and it was expected that these claims would equate to a total of MOP2.42 billion in compensation.
The Economy and Finance Chief also noted the insurance sector has already announced several claims which resulted in compensation amounting to MOP11.26 million for two death cases and 25 cases of accidents and property damage.
Questioned by the media on the possibility of implementing a law to suspend casino employees from working when the typhoon level 8 signal is hoisted, Leong noted, “the law says that the operation of the casinos is 24 hours. Nevertheless it’s possible to make a request to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau regarding these situations.” He added that the government will “analyze the case” and observe “what is done in other jurisdictions.” On such a topic, the CE also added that in the eventuality of the establishment of a new law, “we would have to define several levels [with which to match] mandatory measures,” Chui said.
As for the recent proposal to introduce a tax reduction for the replacement of vehicles damaged by flood, Leong noted that such a measure “needs a formal approval from the Legislative Assembly,” adding that the submission of such a proposal needs to be done as soon as the AL resumes its activities after the elections.
new civil protection bureau to be set up
The government is planning to create a new, permanent bureau responsible for working on civil protection matters. Titled the “Civil Protection and Emergency Coordination Bureau”, the bureau will be under the authority of the Secretariat for Security, headed by Wong Sio Chak, and will seek to “enhance the basic infrastructure for countering the risks of emergencies.” Among the responsibilities of the bureau are “specialized prevention and response to natural catastrophes or security incidents.” The DPCCC will be also responsible for directly commanding the activities of the Civil Protection Operations Center, which will in turn be renamed the Civil Protection and Contingency Operations Center. The new bureau is just one of the measures that announced by Wong yesterday. He also pledged to boost “smart policing” and establish a “Crisis Management Information System,” that might include among its tasks the “inspection of communication groups of mobile apps that [are used to] broadcast rumors.”
Gov’t invited mainland committee to evaluate response mechanism
The government invited the China National Committee for Disaster Reduction to evaluate and review the response mechanism of the territory regarding the consequences of Typhoon Hato, the Commissioner-general of the Unitary Police Service (SPU) Ma Io Kun informed yesterday during the press conference organized by the Chief Executive.
Ma explained in 13 points how the mainland Committee would contribute specialists in order to help the region find solutions for the weaknesses unearthed by the passage of the typhoon on August 23.
According to the information presented to the media, the Committee will provide specialists in the areas of disaster prevention and reduction, weather, construction and hydrological fields, electrical engineering, telecommunications and search and rescue, among others.
The Committee will also conduct an evaluation of Macau’s response mechanism and submit a proposal for the city’s mid- and long-term strategy for the prevention and reduction of disasters. The CE specified yesterday that the plan was not to be restricted to natural catastrophes but also covers other kinds of disasters.
The work of the Committee will be conducted in three phases. In the first, which will commence immediately and last until the end of this month, the specialists will come to Macau and help the local government to finalize the preliminary report on the typhoon.
As for the second phase, which will start right after the first and is expected to last until the end of the year, the Committee will work on the creation and improvement of the crisis management mechanism on unpredictable incidents in Macau.
To close, the Committee will, in 2018, conclude the mid- and long-term plan (2018-2028) for the prevention and reduction of disasters in Macau.
