Matthew,
How are you doing as a student in New York? When you arrived back in June, the United States was hit by a historic heatwave. I’ve heard that cities across the Midwest and the East Coast experienced days with temperatures soaring above 30 or even 40 degrees Celsius. Extreme weather is affecting places around the world, including Hong Kong. This year, we set a new record for the number of tropical cyclone warning signals issued, and in September, we faced the impact of Super Typhoon Ragasa. Fortunately, Hong Kong’s resilience has improved significantly over the years, allowing us to return to normal quickly after the typhoon. Most of us were able to go to school or work as usual the next day.
Extreme weather can be unpredictable. The international community generally agrees that investing in infrastructure to completely prevent flooding is neither the most effective nor the most cost-efficient approach. Therefore, we use a comprehensive and multipronged integrated strategy to enhance Hong Kong’s adaptation and resilience capabilities. Since Super Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, my team and I have made tremendous efforts in various aspects, including enhancing design standards, taking forward coastal improvement works, implementing management measures, and stepping up public education to strengthen our ability to manage coastal risks.
The “Port Works Design Manual” is an important design standard for various coastal facilities in Hong Kong, such as piers, seawalls, and breakwaters. Based on years of data regarding super typhoons, storm surges and sea levels, as well as the “Sixth Assessment Report” published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we’ve completed studies considering different climate change scenarios to update the design parameters in the manual. We are strengthening our coastal defenses by integrating the latest design standards and continuously improving our strategies based on lessons learnt from eachtyphoon. Currently, our design standards are on par with those of major cities both in the Mainland and overseas.
The greatest challenge of climate change is its uncertainty. That’s why we’ve incorporated a progressive adaptive approach into the “Port Works Design Manual”. Wherever feasible, we include design provisions that allow for future upgrades of our infrastructure as needed. This approach provides flexibility and adaptability based on the latest climate change assessments and actual circumstances, while avoiding premature development or implementation of large-scale projects that could lead to unnecessary construction, operation and maintenance expenses. For example, we can build larger foundations for new wave walls, allowing them to be raised in the future if necessary.
To further enhance the overall capability of society in combating climate change, we have adopted a long-term planning approach by incorporating guidelines for managing coastal flood risks into the “Port Works Design Manual”. This allows stakeholders to systematically consider and manage coastal risks during the planning and design stages, including risk mitigation measures.
In addition to enhancing our design standards, we have also completed several territory-wide studies to address coastal flood risks due to rising sea levels and storm surges. In the Coastal Hazards Study completed in 2021, we adopted a risk management approach to assess the likelihood and consequences of seawater inundation across all coastal areas. The study identified several low-lying or windy areas for improvement works and management measures, formulating medium- and long-term strategies for Hong Kong. We are actively implementing improvement works in these areas. Some ofthem have already been completed and proven effective during recent typhoons, while the remaining works are expected to be progressively completed by 2027. To further develop long-term integrated strategies for shoreline management, we completed the “Study on Shoreline Management Plan” in 2024, analyzing the impacts of storm surges, wave, and sea level rise on Hong Kong’s coastal areas for advanced preparation.
When formulating improvement measures, we consider various factors such as site constraints, cost-effectiveness, and the impacts on marine traffic, the environment, and society. Through the integrated strategies of Adaptation, Response and Management, we advocate a multi-layered protection design to mitigate coastal flood risks and reduce flooding impacts by adopting various measures in combination. The multi-layered protection design includes:
(i) Adaptation measures along the coastline as the first line of defence to reduce the coastal hazards, for example, constructing or raising wave walls;
(ii) Resilience measures in suitable locations behind the coastline to form the second line of defence, for example, setting up demountable flood barriers to create a buffer zone that reduces the seawater flowing into inland areas;
(iii) Contingency measures in front of important buildings as the third line of defence, for example, installing demountable flood boards or using sandbags.
Moreover, not all coastal areas can be fully protected by improvement works alone, it is equally important to formulate appropriate management measures. Before Super Typhoon Ragasa arrived, my colleagues from other departments and I held a press conference to release the latest flood risk assessments and outline the measures being taken. This allowed the public to access information early and raised awareness. The better prepared the public is, the lower the risk.
Public participation is crucial for strengthening our ability to cope with extreme weather. In recent years, we have made an effort to raise public awareness about coastal risks, improvement measures, emergency preparedness and safety, etc through videos, seminars, and open days. I remember when we used to cycle in Tai Po, often passing the Tai Po Kau Tide Gauge Station. Last year, it was turned from a little shed into a new landmark, designed to resemble an iceberg to raise public awareness about global warming. In addition to monitoring water level changes in Tolo Harbour, it also serves as a great place for people to relax. Next time, let’s ride our bikes there together and enjoy the dazzling night lights.
Everyone can contribute to building a more resilient society by taking concrete actions in their daily lives. Matthew, I hope that as you pursue your post-graduate studies in real estate and architecture abroad, you’ll continue to pay attention to global climate issues and let that concern motivate you to create better spaces.Our efforts today are not just about constructing more robust buildings; they are about fostering resilient communities and creating a more livable future.
Dad
Ricky WONG
2 November, 2025
