Typhoon Maysak and Typhoon Haishen | 10 Sep 2020

Why in News

Recently, Korean Peninsula and Japan were hit by two typhoons named Maysak and Haishen.

Typhoons

  • Typhoons are a kind of storm. The storms, depending on where they occur, may be called hurricanes, typhoons or cyclones.
    • Typhoons: In the China Sea and Pacific Ocean.
    • Hurricanes: In the West Indian islands in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
    • Tornados: In the Guinea lands of West Africa and southern USA.
    • Willy-willies: In north-western Australia and
    • Tropical Cyclones: In the Indian Ocean Region.
  • The scientific name for all these kinds of storms is tropical cyclones.
    • Tropical cyclones are intense circular storms that originate over the warm tropical oceans with speed more than 119 kilometres per hour and heavy rains.

Key Points

  • Categorisation: Both typhoons were categorised as a Category 4 hurricane storm.
    • A Category 4 storm has wind speeds between 130-156 mph and can uproot trees and bring down power lines.
    • Hurricanes are categorized on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates them on a scale of 1 to 5 based on wind speed. Hurricanes that reach category three or higher are classified as major hurricanes.
  • Naming: The Maysak typhoon takes its name from a Cambodian word for a type of tree. While, Haishen means sea god in Chinese.
    • Typhoon Maysak and Haishen are referred to as typhoon number 9 and 10 in Japan.
  • Background of Naming:
    • In Japan the first typhoon to occur after January 1st of the year is called typhoon number 1.
    • In the USA, hurricanes are referred to by English names.
    • The intergovernmental organisation called the Typhoon Committee which has 14 members including Japan, USA and China uses Asian names for typhoons that are contributed by the member countries.
      • Haishen was a name recommended by China, while Maysak is a Combodian name.

Source: TH