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 $2.7 billion as of noon today (December 5). In addition to the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund's total has now reached around $3 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 73 cases have been processed, and disbursements are under way. In addition, the Government announced that the Support Fund will provide a living allowance to each affected household. As of today, 923 cases have been processed, and disbursements are ongoing. The Government announced yesterday (December 4) that the living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000. Those households that have already received the living allowance of $50,000 earlier do not need to register again, and the additional $50,000 allowance will be disbursed in phases.
In addition, the Government has so far disbursed an emergency subsidy of $10,000 to 1 930 households.
Social workers from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with more than 1 900 affected households, and more than 4 900 residents have been registered for the "one social worker per household" follow-up service. SWD staff also paid visits to the affected residents staying in transitional housing units in Ta Kwu Ling and a youth hostel in Sham Shui Po 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.
Accommodation support
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As of this morning, a total of 1 369 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 2 499 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.
Relief supplies and donations
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The supplies donation online platform, 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 1 400 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, bedding, 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. So far, over 2 800 pieces of donation items, including bedding and electrical appliances, have been distributed to the accommodations soon to be open for residents to live in. The matching and distribution of supplies will continue.
Funeral services
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The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has arranged extra sessions for selection by families using cremation services and has reserved public niches at Tsang Tsui, Cape Collinson-San Ha, Shek Mun and Wo Hop Shek Columbariums for application by and allocation to the families. The FEHD will also provide full assistance to families choosing green burial. If the families opt for coffin burial, the requirement of exhuming the remains after six years will be relaxed to 12 years, so that the families can have more time to process their emotions and get their lives back on track.
Handling of reported missing persons
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The Police have completed searches inside all seven buildings. Officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit conducted searches around the buildings and near the collapsed scaffolding today, 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, examines the fire damage condition for seven buildings (Wang Yan House, Wang Tao House, Wang Sun House, Wang Kin House, Wang Tai House, Wang Cheong House, Wang Shing House).
Regulation and inspection work
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The Housing Bureau today continued to arrange emergency maintenance contractors to help the Police clear away miscellaneous items at the surroundings of the buildings. Further support works also continued in the small number of units that may be subject to more damage. Upon liaison with the Police, the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau started to extract concrete cores from three of the seven affected buildings today.
Regarding the four Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) courts, Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po and On Kay Court in Kwun Tong have completed the removal of protective nets today. The ICU will continue to monitor the progress of the other two HOS courts, namely Sui Wo Court in Sha Tin and Ching Lai Court in Sham Shui Po, as well as Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan under the Tenants Purchase Scheme.
The Development Bureau announced on 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. As of 3pm today, 115 private buildings have had their scaffold nets removed from the external walls. The Buildings Department (BD) reminded contractors to finish the removal of scaffold nets in a responsible and safe manner. If contractors require more time in individual cases, they should provide justifications for the BD's consideration as to whether discretionary arrangements can be made. Regarding the public works building projects, the Architectural Services Department has completed the removal of scaffold nets from its 18 projects. The BD aims to issue a new practice note next week, requiring all scaffold net materials to be certified by designated laboratories as compliant with relevant requirements before installation.
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 300 construction sites, issued a total of 148 written warnings and 79 improvement notices, and taken out 25 prosecutions.
The Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Photo by Bastille Post
