Thursday, July 27, 2006

Hong Kong: shelter from the storm













Re-write of a Hong Kong Airport Authority press release in today's SCMP about possible, occasional, short duration luggage delays during the summer at Hong Kong International Airport at Chep Lap Kok. Ordinarily, luggage retrieval at the airport is mighty quick. But during inclement weather there may be delays, the result of all human activities on airfield apron and ramp coming to a necessary halt during lightning storms.

The airport opened in 1998 and lightning safety measures have been in place since 2003. These include a sophisticated lightning warning system as well as lightning shelters in remote and exposed parts of the airport. No mention of it in the press release, but the SCMP quotes an Air Authority spokesperson as saying that until 2003 eighteen airport workers had been hit by lightning or "injured in lightning-related incidents": press release.