Being late is no good, even for a typhoon. But the prolonged wait is priceless for people racing against time to prepare for the worst.

　　After killing seven people and causing losses of billions of yuan when it slammed into East China's coastal areas, Typhoon Matsa yesterday missed its forecasted encounter with Beijing, the country's capital, by at least one day.

　　The typhoon has been making waves in the Chinese press since it smashed into Zhejiang Province Friday night. Matsa, named after a Laotian fish, is the ninth typhoon to hit the country this year.

　　Although it has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, the havoc the typhoon has caused has left the people in its path feeling extremely uneasy.

　　Thanks to intense preparation by local people, the human cost of the calamity has so far been fairly minimal. Last year 164 people were killed when Typhoon Rananim, the most powerful typhoon the country has witnessed since 1956, blew through Zhejiang Province.

　　Timely evacuation of millions of local residents to safety was definitely necessary. Otherwise, casualties could have been even higher in the face of such a mighty typhoon.

　　Swift delivery of disaster relief by local governments was also crucial to reducing people's suffering from the disaster.

　　In spite of heavy economic losses, local governments of those coastal provinces hit hard by Matsa have done well in protecting people's lives.

　　Yet, the accidental death of four people in Shanghai, the country's leading economic hub, has raised concern about urban preparation for natural disasters.

　　Heavy rainwater not only seriously affected Shanghai's traffic, but even caused death through electric shocks.

　　Obviously, these incidents revealed some problems in the city's preparation work.

　　The partly failed traffic system indicated that urban planners should consider more fully the impact of abnormal weather conditions.

　　And the unfortunate deaths from electric shocks show that more efforts are badly needed to raise the public's awareness of disaster prevention.

　　It is rare that urban residents nowadays are exposed to extreme weather conditions. But as the number of residents in major cities grows rapidly, any natural disaster could catch many people unprepared.

　　Matsa will be the fourth typhoon that hits Beijing, which is situated a few hundred kilometres away from the coast, in the past half century. This fact itself shows the power of Matsa.

　　The damage the storm caused to the people it left behind is certainly a reminder of the potential danger to the people in its way.

　　Weather forecasts predicted the arrival of Matsa in Beijing yesterday morning.

　　However, as Beijingers held their breath for the typhoon of a decade, Matsa slowed its pace and made weather forecasters look ridiculous.

　　While this may make Matsa appear mischievous, the fact that meteorologists equipped with all-powerful super computers are unable to predict its path is a sign of how difficult it is to track such a powerful storm.

　　For Beijing and other areas in Typhoon Matsa's path, this is no time to relax. Some people may lower their guard, but local authorities should use this period of calm before the storm to draw lessons from areas already ravaged.