Government announces updates on follow-up work on Tai Po fire
The three task forces set up by the Government for the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po - the Task Force on Investigation and Regulation, the Task Force on Emergency Support and Fund-Raising, and the Task Force on Emergency Accommodation Arrangements - are making full efforts to follow up on the support, relief, and investigation work related to the incident. Details are as follows:
Financial and welfare support
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For the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, established by the Government, donations received have reached $2.5 billion as of noon today (December 4). In addition to the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund's total has now reached around $2.8 billion. The fund will be used to assist residents in rebuilding their homes and providing long-term and sustained support.
The Government earlier announced that the Support Fund will provide families of each deceased victim with a token of solidarity of $200,000, as well as $50,000 to cover funeral costs. As of today, a total of 67 cases have been processed, and disbursements are under way. In addition, the Government announced that the Support Fund will provide a living allowance of $50,000 to each affected household. As of today, 674 cases have been processed, and disbursements are ongoing. The Government today further announced that the living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000.
In addition, the Government has so far disbursed an emergency subsidy of $10,000 to 1 929 households.
Social workers from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with more than 1 700 affected households so far to register them for the "one social worker per household" follow-up service. SWD staff also paid a visit to the affected residents staying in transitional housing units in Yuen Long today, and distributed Octopus cards with a face value of $2,000 to facilitate their daily travels and address their imminent needs. The SWD will maintain liaison with the affected households to provide all necessary assistance while fully supporting the relief work of the Government. Those not yet in touch with the SWD are advised to leave their contact information by calling 182 183 as soon as possible.
To further strengthen support for those affected by the Tai Po fire, under the directive of the Financial Secretary’s co-ordination meeting with the financial regulators, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Association of Banks today met again with 28 retail banks (including digital banks) and introduced additional measures to continue assisting those affected with a compassionate approach and flexible arrangements. For more details, please refer to the HKMA's press release.
Accommodation support
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As of this morning, a total of 1 241 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 2 235 residents have moved into transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or units from the Hong Kong Housing Society. Moreover, the Tai Po District Office continues to operate a temporary shelter at Tai Po Community Centre, which remains open to residents in need. The other temporary shelter at Tung Cheong Street Community Hall will remain in operation until the existing users have relocated to arranged emergency accommodations.
The Transport Department (TD) has been steering public transport operators to strengthen services of franchised buses, green minibuses and residents' services by deploying additional vehicles and manpower to support residents affected by the fire who have been admitted into transitional housing in various districts, allowing them to connect with other services to commute between different districts. The TD will continue to maintain close liaison with operating organisations of the transitional housing projects concerned and public transport operators to cater for residents' commuting needs.
Relief supplies and donations
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The supplies donation online platform (www.taipodonation.hk), established by the Government and the information technology sector, continues to operate, facilitating the registration of supplies donations from organisations and the public. The Government has so far received over 1 300 registrations, of which approximately 30 per cent were submitted by organisations, whereas the others were contributed by the public. The various registered donation items include food and beverages, clothing, daily necessities, beddings, and electrical appliances. The Government is actively assessing residents’ actual needs through the relevant policy bureau, Government departments, and service organisations for the matching of donated supplies in order to distribute appropriate items to places in need in phases. The matching and distribution of supplies will continue.
Handling of reported missing persons
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The Police have completed searches inside all seven buildings. Today, around 300 officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit conducted searches around the buildings and near the collapsed scaffolding, which had been confirmed as safe. No human remains were found, and the number of the deceased remains at 159. The officers also handed over suspected human remains found earlier to forensic pathologists for further testing. The Police will continue to follow up on the reported missing persons, aiming to confirm their status and the number of casualties as soon as possible.
Investigations
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The Inter-departmental Fire Investigation Task Force, led by the Fire Services Department and joined by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, investigated the oil gas pipeline on the exterior wall at the initially confirmed fire location and found no damage to the pipeline.
Regulation and inspection work
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The Housing Bureau has arranged emergency maintenance contractors to help the Police start clearing away miscellaneous items at the surroundings of the buildings starting today. At the same time, further support works have commenced in the small number of units which may be subject to more damage.
The Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau visited the four Home Ownership Scheme courts, namely Sui Wo Court in Sha Tin, Ching Lai Court in Sham Shui Po, Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po, and On Kay Court in Kwun Tong, as well as Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan under the Tenants Purchase Scheme to oversee the work and progress on the removal of protective nets carried out by the registered contractors. The Housing Department has also completed the removal of the protective nets in 15 public housing estates today.
Following the Development Bureau’s announcement yesterday (December 3) that any scaffold nets installed on external walls of all public and private buildings, as well as government buildings undergoing major repair works, must be immediately removed, and the works at the external walls must cease, the Buildings Department (BD) and relevant government departments have issued orders to contractors today, requiring them to complete the removal on or before this Saturday (December 6). Before and after the removal of scaffold nets, the contractors must ensure that there are no materials or loose items on the scaffolding, and that the scaffolding is safely secured to ensure public safety. Some contractors have commenced the removal and for individual cases that require more handling time, the contractor should notify the relevant department in advance, which will assess whether there are reasonable grounds for discretionary arrangements.
The BD aims to issue a new code of practice next week, requiring all scaffold net materials to be sampled on-site. The scaffold nets can only be installed after being certified by designated laboratories as compliant with relevant requirements.
Moreover, relevant departments inspected existing buildings undergoing major external wall maintenance earlier and took samples for testing from buildings with scaffold nets installed. The BD has taken samples from 400 private buildings with scaffold nets installed and sent them for testing in batches. The Architectural Services Department has also inspected all 18 of its public works building projects and collected samples for testing.
The Labour Department (LD) continues to inspect fire protection facilities and the fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding to ensure the occupational safety of workers. As of 4pm today, the LD has inspected 239 construction sites, issued a total of 130 written warnings and 61 improvement notices, and taken out 17 prosecutions.
Source: AI-found images
Electors reminded to vote at allocated polling stations and follow proper voting procedures
The 2025 Legislative Council General Election (LCGE) will be held on December 7 (Sunday). A spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) said today (December 5) that poll cards have been mailed to about 4.13 million registered electors. Electors should vote at their allocated polling stations and follow proper voting procedures when casting their votes.
Poll cards
In addition to the poll card, the election mail sent to each elector by the REO also includes a map indicating the location of the allocated polling station, a guide on voting procedure, introduction to candidates leaflets in respect of his/her relevant constituency(ies), and a publicity leaflet on clean elections by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The REO spokesman said, "In response to the Electoral Affairs Commission's earlier announcement to extend the polling hours for this LCGE, the previous polling hours stated in the poll cards and other relevant documents already sent out by the REO are no longer valid. Electors should note that the REO has sent out another notice to all Hong Kong electors, stating the new polling hours (i.e. from 7.30am to 11.30pm)."
Due to the Tai Po fire, adjustments have been made to three polling stations in the district. Affected electors need to relocate from their original polling stations to the reallocated polling stations for casting their votes. Except for those electors of Wang Fuk Court who are currently residing in other districts, the REO has sent a notice to affected electors in Kwong Fuk Estate, Tai Po Kau area and Tai Po Market to inform them of their reallocated polling stations. The affected electors may also check relevant voting information by logging into the Online Voter Information Enquiry System (www.voterinfo.gov.hk) through "iAM Smart" or the Voter Registration website (vr.gov.hk).
Arrangements of polling stations
The REO spokesman said, "There are over 4.13 million geographical constituency (GC) electors across the territory. The REO will set up 612 Ordinary Polling Stations. GC and functional constituency (FC) electors may go to the Ordinary Polling Station allocated to them and cast their votes for the candidates of their GCs and FCs (if applicable) at the same time. Approximately 1 500 electors of the Election Committee constituency (ECC) can cast their votes for all relevant constituencies at the polling station at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)."
On the polling day, the polling hours for the Ordinary Polling Stations, the ECC polling station, the three Dedicated Polling Stations set up at police stations and the Near Boundary Polling Stations (NBPSs) will be from 7.30am to 11.30pm. For the Dedicated Polling Stations set up at penal institutions, for security reasons, the polling hours will be from 9am to 4pm. For the Designated Polling Stations and Outreach Polling Stations for Residential Care Homes under the pilot arrangements, their polling hours are from 8.30am to 9.30pm, and from 8.30am to 6.30pm respectively.
Two queues will be set up at the polling stations. One queue is for people aged 70 or above, pregnant women and persons who are unable to queue for a long time due to physical conditions, while the other queue is for ordinary electors. Seats will be provided in the polling stations for any electors in need, and to join the queue afterwards for collecting their ballot papers.
To facilitate the voting by electors on the polling day, the Government has identified different premises nearby over 30 polling stations to provide some temporary parking spaces. Those in need may park their vehicles there for a short duration for casting their votes at the polling stations. The opening hours of the parking spaces concerned are in general from 7.30am to 11.30pm on the polling day. Electors should refer to the terms of use and the instructions of the management of the premises for the detailed arrangements that day (including the duration of free parking and the parking fee thereafter (if any)). Details of the temporary parking spaces are at annex.
On the polling day, electors can check the approximate waiting time of Ordinary Polling Stations, the ECC polling station and NBPSs on the election website (www.elections.gov.hk). Depending on the waiting time and their schedule, electors can make their own arrangements on when to vote.
Voting procedures
Most Ordinary Polling Stations will make use of the Electronic Poll Register (EPR) System to issue ballot papers. The polling procedures are very simple. Electors will be instructed by the polling staff to the issuing desks after they enter the polling station. The elector must show the original of his/her valid Hong Kong identity (HKID) card and the polling staff will scan the elector's HKID card with an EPR tablet. The elector may check his/her name, partial HKID card number and the type(s) of ballot paper(s) that he/she is entitled to on an EPR tablet for verification of information. The elector may then enter the voting compartment upon collection of the ballot paper(s).
GC electors must affix the chop provided at the polling station to mark a single 'tick' in the circle opposite the name of the candidate of their choice on the ballot paper by themselves, and then insert the unfolded ballot paper into the blue ballot box with the marked side facing down. As for FCs, electors must mark the ballot paper using the black pen provided at the polling station to fill in the oval on the ballot paper opposite the name(s) of the candidate(s) of their choice by themselves, and then insert the unfolded ballot paper into the red ballot box with the marked side facing down.
ECC electors must vote for 40 candidates, no more and no less. Otherwise, the ballot paper will be considered invalid and will not be counted. Electors must use the black pen provided at the polling station to fill in the oval opposite the names of the candidates of their choice. After marking the ballot paper, electors should use the Ballot Paper Checking Machine to check whether the number of candidates marked on the paper is 40. The machine will not record the choices marked on the ballot paper. Electors should put the ballot paper, unfolded with the marked side facing down, into the white ballot box.
The ballot is autonomous and secret. Electors must mark their ballot papers on their own in the voting compartment. If in need, electors may ask for assistance from the polling staff. Electors must not disturb others during voting, nor use electronic communication devices, take photographs or make audio or video recordings in the polling stations. Canvassing, distribution of election advertisements or displaying propaganda materials are also prohibited inside polling stations.
To ensure that electors understand the polling procedures, the REO has produced a set of TV and radio Announcements in the Public Interest which have been uploaded onto the election websitefor electors' reference.
Counting and result announcement
After the close of poll, a majority of the Ordinary Polling Stations will be changed to counting stations immediately for the counting of GC votes. For small polling stations of which less than 500 electors are assigned to vote, Dedicated Polling Stations, the ECC polling station, NBPSs, Designated Polling Stations and Outreach Polling Stations for Residential Care Homes, the GC ballot papers will be delivered to the ballot paper sorting station cum consolidated main counting stations at Kowloon Park Sports Centre for counting. The ballot boxes of all FCs and the ECC will be delivered to the Central Counting Station at the HKCEC for counting.
For the GCs, upon completion of the count, the Presiding Officer of each counting station will make known the counting results to the candidates or their agents present. Upon verification of the counting results of all counting stations in a GC, the REO will notify the Returning Officer (RO) at the Central Counting Station at HKCEC of the overall counting result for the RO to sign and declare the election results at the Media Centre. As for the FCs and ECC, once the counting of votes is completed and the election results are verified by the Statistical Information Centre, the ROs will notify the present candidates and their agents of the counting results, and sign and declare the election results at the counting zone of the Central Counting Station. The election results will be announced again by the ROs on stage of the Media Centre.
The election results will be published via press releases and the election website, as well as displaying outside the Media Centre.
Clean elections
The REO spokesman reminded that according to the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance (Cap. 554), it is illegal conduct to incite any person not to vote, to cast a blank or invalid vote by any activity in public during an election; and it is corrupt conduct if a person willfully obstructs and prevents another person from voting at an election.
For enquiries, please call the REO's hotline at 2891 1001 or visit the election website for more information on the LCGE.
Source: AI-found images
