Hong Kong Observatory Received the 2001 Typhoon Committee Natural Disaster Prevention Award

The Hong Kong Observatory was awarded the 2001 Typhoon Committee Natural Disaster Prevention Award at the 34th annual session of the Typhoon Committee held in November in Honolulu, USA. Dr H K Lam, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, accepted the award on behalf of the Observatory.

The award was presented to the Hong Kong Observatory for its significant contributions to the tropical cyclone programme that have been of special benefit to the emergency management community, the media and the general public in the Committee's area of responsibility.

In the citation of the award, the Typhoon Committee commended the Observatory for its distinguished services as the chair of the Committee and the Typhoon Research Coordination Group, contribution to the development and publicity of tropical cyclone names in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea, and assisting the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to develop and host a website to provide information on all tropical cyclones anywhere in the world.

The Typhoon Committee was constituted under the auspices of the United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) and the WMO to promote and coordinate efforts for minimizing tropical cyclone damage in the ESCAP region. The Typhoon Committee is currently composed of 14 members: Cambodia; China; DPR of Korea; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Lao; Macau, China; Malaysia; the Philippines; Republic of Korea; Singapore; Thailand; USA and Viet Nam.