Hong Kong

	Typhoon

Hong Kong Typhoon

Hong Kong experiences frequent landfalls from typhoons, with typhoon-force winds impacting the region about once every 4-5 years since 1946. During the same time period, there has been exponential growth in the amount of private insured exposure. Due to the surrounding warm water of the South China Sea, typhoons approaching Hong Kong can become intense, with the potential for large insured losses. The RMS® Hong Kong Typhoon Model incorporates the latest hazard and vulnerability advances in tropical windstorm modeling. This includes RMS' innovative basin-wide stochastic event set generation methodology, which captures the considerable risk of loss to Hong Kong from bypassing typhoons, as well as high-resolution hazard and loss modeling capabilities using a customized Variable Resolution Grid, and vulnerability functions constructed using detailed exposure and loss data from the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers (HKFI).

The model also features reconstructions of four key typhoon events that have impacted Hong Kong over the past 60 years, including Typhoon York (1999) and Typhoon Wanda (1962). RMS estimates that a recurrence of Typhoon Wanda today would cause over HK$2.6 billion in gross insured loss.

Model Highlights

	Stochastic event set of almost 4,000 individual typhoon events, constructed using an historical event set created using up to 130 years of historical data
	Basin-wide event set methodology captures the risk of loss from bypassing typhoons
	High-resolution calculation of typhoon wind speeds using a physically-based model that simulates the spiraling nature of typhoon winds
	Time-stepping windfield model considers the effect of surface roughness and topography in 8 directions up to 50 miles (80 km) upwind
	Hong Kong-specific vulnerability functions developed using local knowledge and expertise, and reflect Hong Kong’s relatively new and modern building stock, high building code standards, and use of debris-resistant glass
	Vulnerability features 28 distinct vulnerability classes covering five height ranges, including functions for Hong Kong's very tall steel frame skyscrapers
	Building inventory database that reflects building stock mix by District Board and occupancy, organized into three building inventory regions reflecting the mix of residential, commercial, and industrial building stock across Hong Kong
	Model output calibrated using high-resolution wind speed and HKFI loss data from Typhoons York and Sam

Geographic Scope

Hong Kong (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories)

Exposure Data Resolution

The RMS® Hong Kong Typhoon Model supports risk analyses at Latitude/Longitude (VRG), Village/Town, District Board, Sub-CRESTA (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories), or CRESTA