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 are about $3 billion as of 1pm today (December 7). In addition to the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund's total has now reached around $3.3 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 a living allowance to each affected household. As of today, 1 273 cases have been processed. The living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000 and will be disbursed in phases. In addition, 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 90 cases have been processed.
In addition, the Government has so far disbursed an emergency subsidy of $10,000 to 1 931 households.
Social workers from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with more than 1 970 affected households, and more than 4 900 residents have been registered for the "one social worker per household" follow-up service. 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 1 408 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 2 702 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 about 1 600 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 4 800 pieces of donation items covering various categories have been distributed to different places. 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. Officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit (DVIU) continued to search the area 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 Police are contacting the families of the missing persons and those who have preliminarily identified the deceased through photographs to arrange for them to undergo DNA oral swab sampling in batches starting tomorrow (December 8) for scientific identification of the deceased.
Investigations
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The Fire Services Department officers assisted the DVIU in removing accumulated water from the elevator shafts of Wang Kin House, Wang Tai House, Wang Cheong House and Wang Shing House to facilitate the search operations.
Regulation and inspection work
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The emergency maintenance contractors co-ordinated by the Housing Department have largely completed the clearance of miscellaneous items at the surroundings of the buildings at Wang Fuk Court today. With the protective nets removed from the four Home Ownership Scheme courts, namely Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po, On Kay Court in Kwun Tong, 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 Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau has requested registered inspectors to arrange for contractors to check on the conditions of the scaffoldings and remove waste and miscellaneous items to ensure safety on-site. The ICU will continue to conduct inspections and monitor the situations.
Regarding the order to remove scaffold nets issued by the Buildings Department (BD), as of 6pm today, 224 private buildings have had their scaffold nets removed from the external walls. Four cases undergoing removal work have requested an extension of time, and the BD has accepted their applications. It is expected that the work will be finished within this week. The removal work of scaffold nets from the remaining two private buildings has been affected by ongoing contractual disputes between the contractors and the incorporated owners (the disputes existed prior to the Tai Po fire). The BD has arranged for government contractors to carry out the work and will recover the costs later. In addition, the Architectural Services Department has completed the removal of scaffold nets at the government buildings under its purview before the deadline.
The BD strives to announce a new set of arrangements within this week requiring the scaffold nets used at construction sites to be sampled on-site and certified as compliant with the relevant standards prior to installation so that the relevant external wall work can resume as soon as possible.
The 5 000 training places of Multi-skilled/Skill Enhancement courses reserved by the Construction Industry Council for workers affected by the suspension of repair work on external walls (trades including plumbing, window framing, painting and decoration, plastering, and bamboo scaffolding) will be open for application tomorrow. The courses are tuition-free. Depending on the specific trade courses and training hours, workers who complete the training and obtain qualifications can receive a maximum subsidy ranging from $14,000 to $19,000.
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 332 construction sites, issued a total of 170 written warnings and 95 improvement notices, and taken out 25 prosecutions.
Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Photo by Bastille Post
