Singapore, 25 January 2010 – For the first time, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be hosting the 42nd Session of Typhoon Committee in Singapore on 25 - 29 January 2010.

Organised jointly by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the meeting will analyze and develop regional solutions to lessen the impacts of typhoon in the Asia and Pacific Region.  The Committee will identify ways to adapt or mitigate the forces of typhoon to ensure the sustainability and resilience of its 14 Members’ communities.

The Asia and Pacific Region is one of the most vulnerable areas to natural disasters. From 1950 to 2005, 54 percent (approximately 3 million people) of the worldwide deaths produced by natural disasters occurred in this region and many of these deaths are due to typhoon-related impacts. The wind storms and floods associated with typhoon-related impacts account for 57 percent (approximately US$33.5 billion) of the economic losses in this region in the same period.

Recent examples of devastating cyclone disasters which caused enormous causalities and economic losses were Typhoon Durian that hit the Philippines in November 2006 and Typhoon Morakot that struck Taiwan in August 2009.

At this meeting, the Typhoon Committee will bring together specialists in all three fields; Meteorology, Hydrology and Disaster Prevention and Preparedness, to develop integrated typhoon mitigation strategies in consideration of the effect of climate change. Global temperature change, as a result of climate change, may potentially increase the intensity and alter the tracks of typhoons and cause detrimental effects.

“Although Singapore is not normally affected directly by typhoons, we are not spared from its indirect impacts as they can alter air flow in places hundreds and thousands of kilometres beyond, bringing in dry weather in one part and wet weather in another. Our rainfall can be affected by typhoons in the region.  As such, Singapore is sharing our observation data and contributing towards an effective mitigation solution for the region,” said Mr Foong Chee Leong, Director-General of Meteorological Services Division, NEA.

Over the past four decades, the Typhoon Committee has been working to help the people of the region through regional cooperation and collaboration to reduce the loss of life and property due to typhoon-related effects.

With a focus on the key results areas of the strategic plan, the 14 Members have a plan to improve their abilities during typhoon situations to protect people’s lives and to improve their quality of life of this region. Each working group of the committee has achieved fruitful results which include improving forecasting and warning services for tropical cyclones of the members, capacity building of the members, publication of guidelines for the operation and establishment of Typhoon Committee Disaster Information System (TCDIS) through regional cooperation.

Annex I 

The Typhoon Committee is an intergovernmental body officially established under the joint auspices of the ESCAP and the WMO in 1968 in order to promote and coordinate the planning and implementation of measures required for minimizing the loss of life and material damage caused by typhoons in Asia and the Pacific.

The founding members of the Committee were: China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Lao PDR; the Philippines and the Thailand. Cambodia (1972); Malaysia (1976); Viet Nam (1979); Macao, China (1993), People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (1993); Singapore (1997) and the United States of America (1998) respectively joined the Typhoon Committee and raised the current membership to fourteen.

To assist the Committee in its day-to-day work, the ESCAP/WMO Joint Unit on Typhoon was also established in 1968.  This Unit was renamed the Typhoon Committee Secretariat (TCS) and re-located to Manila, the Philippines in 1971. As the Secretariat arm of the Committee, its main function is to facilitate and coordinate Members activities on technical and administrative plans for the implementation of improved meteorological, hydrological, disaster prevention and preparedness, and other facilities needed in the mitigation of typhoon damages.   The Committee decided at its 38th Session held in Hanoi to transfer TCS to Macao, China for a period of four years from 2007.

The Committee maintains and implements action programmes under three components, Meteorological, Hydrological, Disaster Prevention and Preparedness with support by an Advisory Working Group, Training and Research Coordination Group and Resources Mobilization Group. The success of the Typhoon Committee in the Asia Pacific area provided an incentive for WMO to establish four similar regional bodies under the global WMO Tropical Cyclone Program.

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