Government continues to follow up on support and relief work and investigations on Tai Po fire
A Government spokesman said yesterday (November 30) that the Task Force on Investigation and Regulation, the Task Force on Emergency Support and Fund-Raising, and the Task Force on Emergency Accommodation Arrangements, led respectively by the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, and the Deputy Financial Secretary, are making every effort to press ahead with the support and relief work and investigations on the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po.
The Government has been offering an emergency cash subsidy of $10,000 per affected household since November 27 evening to provide immediate relief for affected residents. As at 1pm yesterday, the Government has registered more than 1 900 households for the subsidy and disbursed the emergency cash subsidies to 1 420 households. In addition, the Government will provide a token of solidarity of $200,000 to the family members of each deceased victim, and a living allowance of $50,000 will be provided to each affected household starting this week.
For the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po established by the Government, as at noon yesterday, the donations received have reached $900 million, apart from the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, bringing the fund's total to around $1.2 billion. The fund will be used for assisting the residents in rebuilding homes and providing long-term and persistent support.
As well, the supplies donation online platform established by the Government and the information technology sector began operation yesterday (www.taipodonation.hk) to facilitate registration of supplies donations from organisations and members of the public, enabling the Government to better consolidate information and distribute supplies to residents in need as necessary. The Government has also set up a central supplies station at the Tai Po Community Centre to co-ordinate and properly manage the donated materials received.
On emergency accommodation support, as of this morning, 683 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels/camps or hotel rooms. Another 1 144 residents have moved into transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or the Housing Society. Furthermore, two shelters remain open for residents in need.
All units in the transitional housing projects are equipped with basic facilities including an individual bathroom with toilet as well as a cooking area. Subject to the size of the projects, different facilities, such as laundry rooms and convenience stores, are also available. Members of the public in need may call the Task Force on Transitional Housing of the Housing Bureau at 3611 8482 to obtain more information about the admission of different projects. Accommodation is free of charge. Pets are also welcome.
To provide further convenience for victims admitted into transitional housing, starting from today (December 1), the first departure of the residents' service connecting Good House in Tai Po and the MTR Tai Po Market Station will be advanced to 7.30am departing from Good House Monday to Friday.
As of this morning, social workers of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with about 1 300 affected households, and 3 200 affected residents have been registered for the "one social worker per household" support service. Social workers will maintain liaison with the affected households, and those not yet in touch with the SWD are advised to leave their contact information by calling 182 183 as soon as possible.
In view of affected residents gradually relocating from temporary shelters to various communities, the Primary Healthcare Commission will leverage the District Health Centres (DHCs)/DHC Expresses as hubs to provide personalised case management services to residents affected by the incident, and co-ordinate healthcare professionals from various disciplines to provide medical, nursing and medication services, as well as psychological support. Those affected may also visit the Hospital Authority's Family Medicine Clinics for services, and will later be able to make priority bookings through the system. In addition, the medical stations currently set up at temporary shelters will remain in operation.
As for funeral-related matters, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will arrange dedicated staff to assist each family of the deceased, enabling them to make arrangements at their preferred time and location. The Government will waive fees for columbarium and related services, and provide $50,000 to the families of each deceased individual through the "one social worker per household" service to cover funeral and related expenses. The FEHD has set up a service counter at the Fu Shan Public Mortuary and will proactively contact the families to offer assistance. Once the families have made decisions regarding their preferred arrangements, the FEHD will follow up promptly.
For the latest updates and information about the support services, please visit the Government's one-stop dedicated website: www.taipofire.gov.hk.
Following the completion of inspection on the overall structural safety of Wang Yan House, Wang Tao House and the first two floors of Wang Cheong House on November 29, the Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau (ICU), together with more than 100 professionals from the Housing Department, further completed the inspections of Wang Kin House, Wang Tai House, Wang Shing House and Wang Chi House as at 5pm yesterday. More than 1 500 units in total have been inspected in these two days. The inspection of Wang Sun House and Wang Cheong House has also commenced. The Police have arranged sufficient manpower to remain on standby. Once the safety of the remaining two buildings is confirmed, the Police will immediately deploy officers to conduct searches inside.
According to the initial assessment of the professionals, there is no imminent danger in terms of the overall structural safety of the buildings inspected, but the structure of some units may be subject to more serious damage. The Housing Bureau has already engaged contractors for emergency maintenance to complete the relevant support works as soon as possible in order to allow officers of the Police Force and the Fire Services Department (FSD) to enter the units for evidence and other operations.
Regarding the handling of reported missing persons, the Police completed searches at two buildings on November 29 and deployed more than 600 officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit to conduct searches in three other buildings yesterday. As of 4pm yesterday, the Police handled 30 sets of human remains in the buildings, including 12 sets found by firefighters but yet to be removed, and 18 sets that were newly discovered. The numbers of deceased and injured have been updated to 146 and 79 respectively. The Police will continue to follow up on the alleged missing persons, aiming to confirm their status and the number of casualties as soon as possible. The FSD also handled all the 347 assistance calls received during the fire.
The Police have accorded top priority to the case and are gathering evidence through various channels for a thorough and in-depth investigation.
The Housing Bureau also noted that, with Prestige Construction & Engineering Company, Limited being the contractor of the maintenance project of Wang Fuk Court, the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) under the Bureau had issued orders in accordance with the Buildings Ordinance on November 29 to temporarily suspend the relevant external wall maintenance works with immediate effect.
The ICU had also identified in a special inspection operation that plastic sheeting had been used to cover the windows in the maintenance project in Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po. The registered contractor of the project has been requested to remove the plastic sheeting immediately. Legal advice is being sought when considering prosecution. For thesake of prudence, the ICU has ordered the temporary suspension of the works and requested the contractor to conduct an independent safety audit to review their safety management system. Taking cognisance of the outcome of the safety audit, the contractors are required to submit an improvement plan and implement improvement measures, with a view to demonstrating that they have an effective safety management system in place before the resumption of works can be considered.
On the other hand, the Buildings Department continued its special inspection operation. As of yesterday, 319 buildings undergoing external wall maintenance have been inspected and samples have been taken for testing from buildings installed with scaffold nets. Apart from the two buildings where plastic sheeting was found blocking the windows as announced on November 29 (being removed successively at the Government's instructions), no other buildings were found using foam boards or plastic sheeting to block windows.
The Labour Department (LD) launched a territory-wide special enforcement operation since November 28, targeting the fire protection facilities and fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding erected. This includes checking if protective screens (also known as scaffold nets) on scaffolds are in compliance with recognised standards for fire-retardant materials to enhance occupational safety of workers. As at yesterday, the LD has inspected 51 construction sites, issued a total of 45 written warnings and 12 improvement notices, and has taken out two prosecutions.
Photo by Bastille Post
