Government Task Forces Mobilize $3.3 Billion Fund for Wang Fuk Court Fire Relief Efforts in Tai Po

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 noon today (December 9). 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, 1 617 cases have been processed. The living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000. 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 106 cases have been processed. The allowance will be disbursed in phases.

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. SWD staff also paid visits to the affected residents staying in transitional housing units in Kai Tak 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 1 431 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 2 530 residents are currently living in 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 1 700 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 in phases to places in need. So far, over 16 000 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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Officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit completed the search of the area around the buildings and near the collapsed scaffolding, which had been confirmed as safe. Suspected bones were discovered and collected for further testing. In the next phase, search will be conducted after the removal of scaffold nets and scaffolding. In addition, further testing has confirmed that one set of human remains found earlier belongs to two deceased individuals. Therefore, the number of the deceased has increased to 160, with 120 human remains identified. The Police have contacted the families of the missing persons and those who have preliminarily identified the deceased through photographs, and continued to arrange DNA oral swab sampling for them in batches today for scientific identification of the deceased.

Investigations

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The Fire Services Department has set up a rope system on the podium of Wang Tai House to access the underground pump room, allowing the DVIU to conduct searches in hard-to-access areas at the fire scene. Additionally, the Inter-departmental Fire Investigation Task Force held another cross-departmental meeting today to continue investigating the causes of the fire.

Regulation and inspection work

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The Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau continued to extract concrete core samples from the affected buildings of Wang Fuk Court today. Currently, all seven buildings have been covered.

Under the ICU's supervision, the miscellaneous items earlier found on some of the scaffolding in 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, have essentially been removed by the contractor. The ICU will continue to inspect regularly and monitor the situation to ensure the safety of residents.

Regarding the order to remove scaffold nets issued by the Buildings Department (BD), as of today, all 230 private buildings have had their scaffold nets removed from the external walls.

The BD is striving to announce a new set of arrangements within this week that will require 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 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 371 construction sites, issued a total of 189 written warnings and 101 improvement notices, and taken out 25 prosecutions.

Photo by Bastille Post

Recruitment under Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth Phase 9 starts today

The Government today (December 10) started recruitment under the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth (MSSY) Phase 9. The application period will close on January 8, 2026.

A spokesman for the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) said, "The MSSY is one of the key initiatives for youth development as set out in the Chief Executive's 2022 Policy Address and the Youth Development Blueprint. To engage more young people in public affairs and enhance their interaction with and trust in the Government, action has been taken to expand the MSSY, with a view to increasing the number of participating advisory committees from around 60 in 2022 to no less than 180 within the current term of the Government. At present, about 650 posts are held by young people who have been appointed to various advisory and statutory bodies of the Government, directly or indirectly, through the MSSY. The overall ratio of youth members in these bodies has increased from 7.8 per cent in end-2017 to 15.5 per cent in end-2024."

The MSSY has received an enthusiastic response since its launch. From the Pilot Scheme to Phase 8 of the MSSY, a total of about 14 000 applications have been received so far. The list of appointees has been uploaded to thewebsiteof the HYAB.

The MSSY Phase 9 is now open for application. The participating committees for the MSSY Phase 9 are as follows:

Sir David Trench Fund Committee

Standing Committee on Language Education and Research

Electrical Safety Advisory Committee

Food Wise Hong Kong Steering Committee

Coordinating Committee on Basic Competency Assessment and Assessment Literacy

Task Force on Promoting Web3 Development

Committee on Consumer Protection Policy, Trade Practices and Redress under the Consumer Council

Committee on Sustainability, Public Affairs and Education under the Consumer Council

Hong Kong Paralympians Fund Management Committee

Publicity and Promotion Committee under the Award Council of the Hong Kong Award for Young People

Working Group on Elder Abuse

Working Group on Publicity under Finance and Strategic Development Committee of Property Management Services Authority

Commission on Children

Green Tech Fund Assessment Committee

Committee on Community Support for Rehabilitated Offenders

Community Investment and Inclusion Fund Committee

Transport Advisory Committee

Transport Tribunals' Panel

Licensing Committee of the Estate Agents Authority

Professional Development Committee of the Estate Agents Authority

Practice and Examination Committee of the Estate Agents Authority

Disciplinary Committee of the Estate Agents Authority

Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education

Lantau Development Advisory Committee

Appeal Panel (Housing)

Vetting Committee of the Trade and Industrial Organisation Support Fund

Immigration Department Users'Committee

General Support Programme Vetting Committee

"There are 28 participating committees in Phase 9, covering a wider spectrum of policy areas. We encourage young people aged between 18 and 35 on January 8, 2026, i.e. the date of the application deadline, and with a commitment to serving the community to apply for the MSSY Phase 9," the spokesman continued.

The HYAB is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the MSSY. Assessment Panels (APs) will be formed under the 28 participating committees to handle the applications and conduct interviews. Each AP will comprise the respective official and/or non-official member(s) and representative(s) from the responsible bureaux/departments.

The APs will consider whether the applicant has a strong commitment to serving the community, a good understanding of the policy area concerned, and good analytical and communication skills. Following the principle of meritocracy, the Government aims to, through the MSSY, recruit young people who have the commitment to serving the community and the ability to contribute to the committees concerned, for recommending to the relevant B/Ds for consideration of appointment. In general, each participating committee will offer two seats for appointment. Subject to the actual number of applications received and assessment progress, assessment is expected to be completed around the third quarter of 2026.

The application form and other details of the MSSY Phase 9 are available on the website of the HYAB (www.hyab.gov.hk). When completing the application form, applicants are required to write no more than 600 words or provide avideo or audio clip of no longer than three minutes to account for, in either Chinese or English, their suitability for being appointed as a member of the selected committee(s).Applications may be submitted through the online application system, by post or by hand.

Source: AI-found images