TAIWAN SUSPENDS STOCK MARKET AS TYPHOON GAEMI APPROACHES
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Agency Report
As Typhoon Gaemi made landfall on Wednesday, Taiwan announced a typhoon holiday, closed schools, and stopped the stock market. Gaemi was expected to bring with it intense rain and strong gusts to the northeast.
With sustained wind gusts of 190 kilometers per hour (118 miles per hour), Typhoon Gaemi also had an impact on Japan and the Philippines, where officials there declared a day-long closure of government buildings.
At a morning emergency briefing, President Lai Ching-te urged everyone to “put safety first” as it is predicted to reach landfall in northeastern Taiwan by 10 p.m. (1400 GMT).
“Gaemi is this year’s first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan,” Lai said.
“I hope that through our joint efforts, impact from the typhoon can be minimised… I also encourage fellow citizens across the country not to go out unless necessary during the typhoon, especially not to dangerous places.”
Some of the self-ruled island’s yearly Han Kuang war exercises, which test readiness for a Chinese invasion, had to be canceled due to bad weather, but on Wednesday morning, an anti-landing drill on Penghu island, west of Taiwan, proceeded as planned.
More than 4,000 individuals who were living in dangerous circumstances in the northern areas, especially in Hualien, a hilly region with a high risk of landslides, were evacuated by the authorities.
By the afternoon, officials reported that the typhoon’s effects had harmed about 60 people on the island.
Wednesday saw the suspension of trains and ferries, as well as the cancellation of hundreds of domestic and international flights.
“We expect that the impact of the typhoon will be extended to four days (until Friday),” said Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration chief Cheng Jia-ping, adding that the public would need to “take precautions against heavy rain and strong wind”.
By Thursday, the typhoon is predicted to cross the Taiwan Strait and make landfall in China in the provinces of Fujian and eastern Zhejiang, where a red storm warning has been issued by the authorities.
Huge waves slammed into the shore in Yilan County, northeastern Taiwan. Shops with taped glass windows and market vendors scrambled to shield their stalls with canvas.
An angler called Hsu secured his boat to a storm shelter in a harbor full of moored boats.
“I am worried about the typhoon — the boats are my tool for making money,” he told AFP.
In the capital Taipei, government offices were closed and streets emptied, while some stores sandbagged their entrances to prevent potential floodwater.
Taiwanese chip giant TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it would maintain normal production and the firm “has activated routine typhoon alert preparation procedures” at all fabrication plants.
Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October, but experts say climate change has increased their intensity, leading to heavy rains, flash floods and strong gusts.
In neighbouring Japan, authorities of a southern island region of Okinawa urged residents to “exercise strong vigilance” against storms, high waves and floods.
In the Philippines, meanwhile, heavy downpours in Manila triggered widespread flooding and a landslide in a nearby mountainous province killed four people.
AFP
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