Are you wondering how the COPE creative team begins the process to write a book?

First, we choose the natural hazard to write about, and then we choose the location.  For the Storm Surges book, the team decided that the fishing village of Tai O on Lantau Island, Hong Kong was a good choice since they encounter storm surges on a regular basis throughout the typhoon (tropical storm) season.

With the guidance of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster preparedness and Response Institute, and the Tai O Sustainable Development Group, Martha Keswick (COPE Author) and Christine Messervy (COPE Project Manager) visited the traditional village to gather facts, meet local people and understand how the community works together during an emergency. We took a tour of the evacuation Centre and looked at the flood prevention barriers in place. We met with the charismatic Aunty Chen (a real person – not just a character in the book!) and she told us all about the many times she has had to evacuate with her many children from her stilted home on the water, and the things she needs to do to prepare her home when a storm is coming. We also met up with a local cat protection group, who told us how they have to act quickly to ensure all the cats and pets are taken to safety during flooding after a storm surge. It is important to understand the difficulties a vulnerable community based on the water faces during storms, and how carefully they have to plan for an emergency evacuation – all helping each other stay safe and following the plan to safety.

The beautiful illustrations from Mariko Jesse (www.marikojesse.com) provides a magical backdrop to the story, creating a sense of culture and understanding of the local environment and people.

And with the critical advice from our COPE Editor, Dr Timothy Sim and our global Storm Surge experts, Hong Kong Observatory, World Meteorological Organization, Prof Lena Dominelli, University of Stirling and Prof Caryn West of James Cook University, means that both the story and illustrations are scientifically correct.

Every stage of the creative process is written, drawn, edited and designed with love and care for the books. We hope you enjoy reading them!

To read Storm Surges: