[jocdelevat]

hope this will not delay the 38th World Championships

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20829511/

[jtfanclub]

jocdelevat, on Sep 18 2007, 09:02 AM, said:

hope this will not delay the 38th World Championships

I hope it doesn't kill hundreds of people...

[Gerben42]

It'll be over well before the championships, it's in Shanghai tomorrow.

As a European I've got no idea about the impact of such storms. Doesn't exist here.

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I hope it doesn't kill hundreds of people...

That's more important than some championships of course. You can hope, pray if you like, won't change a thing. In China there are many who cannot prepare for something like this.

[bid_em_up]

Gerben42, on Sep 18 2007, 10:19 AM, said:

It'll be over well before the championships, it's in Shanghai tomorrow.

As a European I've got no idea about the impact of such storms. Doesn't exist here.

Quote

I hope it doesn't kill hundreds of people...

That's more important than some championships of course. You can hope, pray if you like, won't change a thing. In China there are many who cannot prepare for something like this.

Consider it to be like a hurricaine similar to Katrina or Andrew (which still may have no meaning to you).

While the brunt of the storm is over in a day or two, it can take years to recover from the damage. IOW, its hard to hold an event in a hotel if that hotel no longer exists, has no power/running water, or is inacessable due to other conditions.

This, of course, is trivial compared to the possibility of loss of life that may result.

[Al_U_Card]

Here is a site that gives you the latest info on tropical cyclones.

http://independentwx.com/

and this is for that storm specifically (it is pretty violent)

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/

[Gerben42]

What I mean is I know about storms. Trees fall down, roof tiles fly around, all these kinds of things. What I do not see in hurricanes is brick and mortar type buildings being destroyed like they can be in a tornado.

So in a way a tornado is fairer. It destroys just about everything it hits, whereas a hurricane specifically hits those who cannot defend themselves. As bridge tournaments are held almost without exception in places that CAN defend themselves, I cannot see anything happening to this.

And to expect the Chinese to cancel the tournament because so many in the city suffer from the hurricane, that's so not going to happen. No doubt they would clean every street the participants might visit, like a large Potemkin village.

[bid_em_up]

Gerben,

No offense, but it is fairly clear you have no idea as to how damaging a hurricaine/typhoon can be.

http://www.stormeyes...ix/skypixha.htm

http://www.katrinade...images/main.php

The main problem in the aftermath of a hurricaine is not necessarily the total destruction of brick/mortar buildings. It is windows being blown out, roofs being blown off, rain pouring in the buildings damaging all the electrical circuits. It is the lack of power, fresh running water, food supply chain (roads blocked due to trees being down), etc. that allow for basic functions. Even if the hotel is standing, it may not have power, or running water, which makes it uninhabitable.

The destruction of a tornado's path is normally limited in its width (breadth?) to a fairly narrow area and they usually follows a fairly straight line of travel. A hurricane can cause wind damage many miles in width by its impact. The impact area of Hurricaine Andrew (as best I recall) was some 50 miles wide. Tornadoes widths can usually be measured in hundreds of feet/yards.

The other major cause of destruction is flooding. These storms drop tremendous amounts of rain in a relatively short period of time. This water has to go somewhere and it tends to take out whatever is in its way. You simply don't have this kind of rain falling with tornadoes.

While I will agree that a tornado can be more damaging in terms of total destruction, that destruction is usually limited to a concentrated area. In the case of a hurricaine, it is usually not how bad the destruction was that is the problem, it is the cleanup and restoration of services in a widespread area.

[Gerben42]

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No offense, but it is fairly clear you have no idea as to how damaging a hurricaine/typhoon can be.

I admit I have no idea. As a physicist I can calculate the force of the wind, but the EFFECT on a city is not physics.

One probably can't imagine a hurricane unless you've been in one...

[mycroft]

Probably True. And that was probably in the minds of a couple of Scientists, who came up in 1969 with a "here's what will actually happen" scale for hurricanes/tropical cyclones.

http://en.wikipedia..../Saffir-Simpson

The good news is that builders in coastal East Asia are VERY GOOD at building cities that quickly recover from cyclone damage - well, if they aren't completely blown away.

They have to be, it happens a lot.

The bad news is that even so, a lot of people die. A lot more lose everything. And the less likely you are to be able to recover, the more likely you are to be hit with a catastrophic loss.

Michael.

[keylime]

I've been through 2 of the most nasty storms ever: Andrew and Supertyphoon Paka. I still remember coming out of shelter and feeling as if I had been bombed by a fleet of aircraft at the AFB. Scary, scary scene that was.