Hong Kong’s Tsing Ma Bridge lends name to list of typhoons in regional waters
- ‘Tsing-ma’ among list of names endorsed by global typhoon body, after one of world’s longest suspension bridges that connects Hong Kong’s Tsing Yi and Ma Wan
One of Hong Kong’s most prominent bridges has been chosen for a new list of typhoon names for storms in the western North Pacific and South China Sea.
“Tsing-ma” was among nine names endorsed by a committee set up by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Named for the two islands it connects, the Tsing Ma Bridge opened to traffic just two months before the city returned to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997.
The bridge, one of the longest in the world, later began serving as a link for the Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok, which opened in 1998 after the facility in Kai Tak closed.
Other names added to this year’s list include the Korean word for dragonfly, jamjari, the Vietnamese aquatic plant luc-binh and the mountain of Amuyao in the Philippines, according to the committee.
Old names being struck from the list include Conson, which was used for a severe tropical storm that hit the Philippines in 2021 and killed 20, injured 33 and left four missing.
The committee said that another name being discontinued was Malakas, as it was “considered to contain inappropriate meaning in other languages”.
Malakas in Tagalog means “strong” or “powerful” but is a profanity in Greek.
According to the city’s Observatory, the Typhoon Committee has been adopting a list of tropical cyclone names with local characteristics nominated by its 14 members since 2000, including 10 appellations provided by Hong Kong.
When the name of a typhoon that has caused deaths and economic losses is requested to be retired by the committee, the member who provided it will propose a replacement one for consideration.
Last year, the Observatory organised a campaign asking the public to identify additional suitable names with Hong Kong characteristics.
Milktea garnered 15,750 votes, followed by Tsing-ma, with 15,127 votes. No 3 was Fo-lung, or fire dragon, a nod to the traditional celebration held to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival, with 14,810 votes.
