The Hong Kong Observatory announced three new names to the list of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific and South China Sea, replacing those retired due to their association with deadly destructions in 2023.
The new names -- Bori, Saobien, and Tianma -- will replace Doksuri, Saola, and Haikui, as the three names were removed from the official list after causing significant deaths and economic damage.
Bori, meaning barley in Korean, was proposed by South Korea, while Vietnam proposed Saobien, which refers to a star-shaped echinoderm.
China suggested Tianma, a name inspired by the mythical horse in Chinese folklore.
The new names were endorsed at the 57th session of the Typhoon Committee, a joint initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
According to the convention, the Typhoon Committee will retire names of cyclones that have caused mass devastations.
Super Typhoon Doksuri, which hit the Philippines in 2023, claimed at least 25 lives and affected more than 2.45 million people. When it later swept through China, it caused huge damage, impacting 2.95 million residents and resulted in economic damages of 14.7 billion yuan.
Super Typhoon Saola brought torrential rain and squalls to the northern part of the Philippines in August of 2023, killing at least two people and displacing over 1.16 million. The storm inflicted an estimated 2.4 billion pesos in damages.
Meanwhile, Severe Typhoon Haikui, which hit China in early September 2023, disrupted the lives of 1.59 million people and led to economic losses of over 5 billion yuan.
(Chelsea Chan)
