I found the Discovery TV show people were making references to. It's "Super Typhoon," episode 3 of Discovery Channel's "Perfect Disaster". After watching it, my confidence in Hong Kong's ability to deal with serious typhoons went up even higher. I had no idea we have a huge flood channel system under the city! So that's where all the water goes... I remember watching the rain last year pour for two days straight and not seeing more than a puddle. I was dumbfounded by it (I grew up in technologically primitive towns of the US).

I also was pleased to see the program talk about the comprehensive "Slope Registration" program. Though, it has taken me a while to get used to the notion of numbering all the slopes in the territory (Help, I've tilted my toast at a 45% angle! Does it need to be restablized??)

One issue that the program didn't talk about was the power system. I suddenly remembered we don't have power lines here...so I suppose that's why the lights don't flicker everytime a wind picks up. So much for those fun childhood days of lighting up candles all around the house. But now I am really curious what exactly it would take to have a large power outage in HK?

BTW, thanks for pointing out how our inflated housing prices can be somewhat justified with the sturdy construction. That helps me rationalize my outrageous rent. Frankly, living in HK has made me believe that the benefits of hi-tech urban living far outweigh those of suburbia. Mitigating the effects of natural disasters is just one of many benefits.