Source: Hong Kong Information Services
Chief Executive John Lee this afternoon visited CONCORDIA Sheung Yue River, a transitional housing project in Yuen Long, to offer comfort to victims affected by the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po.
As of this morning, 945 residents had been accommodated in youth hostels/camps or hotel rooms, under the co-ordination of the Home & Youth Affairs Bureau.
Another 1,470 residents have moved into transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or the Hong Kong Housing Society.
CONCORDIA Sheung Yue River has accommodated over 100 fire victims from approximately 60 families.
During the visit, Mr Lee inquired about the residents’ living conditions. Some victims stated that the $10,000 emergency cash subsidy quickly distributed by the Government after the fire, along with essential supplies such as bedding and household appliances provided via welfare organisations, have given them immediate relief and substantial support.
Mr Lee also inspected the site’s temporary supplies centre, converted from an activity room, where necessities donated by various sectors are distributed.
The Chief Executive said he was deeply moved by the selfless commitment of welfare personnel and residents of the CONCORDIA Sheung Yue River neighbourhood, stating that embody Hong Kong society’s spirit of mutual help and solidarity.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki visited residents affected by the fire at Pok Oi Kong Ha Wai Village, a transitional housing project at Kam Sheung Road in Yuen Long, to express sympathy and understand their living conditions and actual needs.
As of this morning, Social Welfare Department social workers have been in contact with about 1,450 affected households, and more than 3,300 affected residents have been registered for “one social worker per household” support services.
A supplies donation online platform established by the Government and the information technology sector to facilitate registration of supplies donated by organisations and members of the public began operating yesterday.
The Government has so far received over 470 registrations, with donations including food and beverage items, clothing, daily necessities, beddings and electrical appliances.
As of 4pm, the Immigration Department had processed about 1,090 personal document replacement applications from affected residents. Additionally, a total of 16 applications had been processed for extensions of stay and provision of services following loss of visa records.
As for transport services, five fleets will arrange for taxis to provide free special services to residents in need, mainly to and from various locations in Tai Po district. Details are provided on the dedicated Government website “Support Services for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po”.
Police have completed searches at five buildings and deployed again more than 600 officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit to conduct searches at structurally-safe locations in the remaining two affected buildings.
As of 4pm, Police had handled eight sets of human remains from the buildings, including five newly discovered sets and three that were previously found by firefighters but not removed. The number of the deceased has been updated to 151.
Forensic pathologists from the Department of Health continued to assist personnel from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit on site in collecting evidence, making every effort to help identify the deceased. As of 4pm, the next of kin of 90 victims had completed necessary procedures at the Fu Shan Public Mortuary.
Regarding investigations, in addition to the three personnel from a construction company arrested earlier, Police have arrested another 10 individuals from various construction and engineering consultancy companies on suspicion of manslaughter.
The Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU), together with more than 100 professionals from the Housing Department (HD), conducted inspections on Saturday and Sunday of more than 1,700 units in seven buildings, namely Wang Yan House, Wang Tao House, Wang Kin House, Wang Tai House, Wang Shing House, Wang Chi House and Wang Sun House, as well as a few floors of Wang Cheong House. They HD professionals have also now completed inspection of the remaining units in Wang Cheong House.
According to their assessment, the structure of some units may be subject to serious damage, but there is no imminent danger in terms of the overall structural safety in any of the buildings inspected.
The Housing Bureau’s emergency maintenance contractors have completed relevant support works so that Police officers and the Fire Services Department can immediately enter the units to conduct evidence collection and other operations.
The ICU has conducted on-site sampling at Wang Fuk Court and four other Home Ownership Scheme courts that have been issued notices under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme, including 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. Samples collected from different positions of buildings’ protective nets had been sent to the Government Laboratory for testing.
In addition, the Buildings Department has inspected 359 buildings undergoing external wall maintenance. Among these, about 300 buildings were confirmed to have had scaffold nets installed, and samples have been taken. Test results are expected to be ready in batches within this week.
The Labour Department (LD) launched a city-wide special enforcement operation on November 28, targeting the fire protection facilities and fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding. As of 4pm, the LD had inspected 61 construction sites, issued a total of 53 written warnings and 13 improvement notices, and taken out two prosecutions.