WAN

Divine Wind - Typhoon SEPAT

The Kuomintang vs the Communist Party of China was the first thing that came to mind (trust me to turn anything into a military inclined story) as the rush to get to Taiwan was on to shoot DOTSTAR - a storm immersing (they actually fly around and above the typhoon) research flight headed by academics from the National Taiwan University. The plan called for an extended shoot if typhoon Sepat made landfall.

Of course it did.

Notwithstanding the issue of coming into a natural disaster unprepared (I completely forgot about the 110V rating for appliances, plus I had no rain gear except for a camo boonie) that and being in such an insane rush, add my rudimentary Chinese in to communicate with a cameraman that doesn't understand a word of English, 4 hour drives to Central Taiwan to chase Sepat as it hit the mainland and flights being closed on my proposed day of departure (just as well since the shoot was extended), the best part about it all was a category 5 storm that was brewing just off the coast with the island's name on it.

Besides the somewhat pretty betelnut girls (had a conversation with a colleague in SG and she told me they were slutty instead of pretty and that my line between the two descriptions was largely non existent) who my Chinese fixer very kindly showed me how to order from (which another colleague promptly made a face as she tried the ones I brought back home) the divine wind experience was a twister of sorts. Sorry no other clever puns.

Holed up with a rescue and fire dept in Nantou County, Central Taiwan, was quite the opposite of what I expected. The crews were professionals, just don't let the somewhat relaxed atmosphere and them smoking like chimneys in the ready room fool you. Since the area is mountainous, storms have always been pretty nasty. When it did hit it was intense. But as we shot the crews coming out to clear the mountain roads of huge uprooted trees and talked to Taiwanese academics and experts, we found out one thing - Taiwan was well prepared and lucky.

The more compelling story was actually the news agencies trying to outdo each other, as usual. When one managed to get people crying as they were evacuated by chopper, the other would get shots of a whole bridge demolished. Then they start outdoing each other's disaster closeups. When all else fails they'd resort to one thing - as one feisty young reporter who was trying out for either a promotion or the Taipei natural disaster news agency award did - stand in the middle of the storm next to the coast and scream while trying to stand upright, as all good typhoon reporters do. This young chick was in a yellow disposable raincoat flapping insanely in the wind, eyes squinting in the heavy rain, shouting into a microphone attached to a cameraman that was trying his damnest to keep steady, hollering incomprehensible grunts about the arrival of typhoon Sepat. Really it's coming? No shit.

If she had jumped up about an inch she'd have been blown clear across the mainland back to Taipei, cameraman included. As the crews sat around watching we all had the same thought - she looked more like an idiotic circus act. At least they didn't get the science and human profile stories we got. if I was younger I'd probably have done what she did - but only because I think it'd be pretty cool.

Then again, if you were a journalist covering the storm, what gripping story would you go for?

More photos here.