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Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     In view of the fire incident at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, a Government spokesperson said today (November 28) that in accordance with the notice on adjusted arrangements for events related to the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities (NGD) and the 9th National Special Olympic Games (NSOG) issued by the office of the Organising Committee of the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG (https://www.baygamespara.cn/node_cc15c9de96/c4b365a634.shtml (Chinese only)), the Hong Kong leg of the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG torch relay originally scheduled for 9.30am tomorrow (November 29) and special traffic and transport arrangements announced earlier will be cancelled. Torch relay events for the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macao will also be cancelled tomorrow. The opening ceremony of the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG originally scheduled to be held in Guangzhou on December 8 will be cancelled as well. A simple closing event will be organised after all competitions of the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG conclude.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

Regarding the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) is providing welfare services and other supports (including financial assistance) to affected residents with the “one social worker per household” service arrangement. Residents do not need any registration card as documentary proof. 

In response to the public concern over the Emergency Relief Chit, the SWD clarified that the chits are only a record for residents who had received Emergency Relief Services at temporary shelters. It is irrelevant to the “one social worker per household” service. 

The SWD social workers are reaching out to all affected residents. Residents not yet in touch with the SWD are advised to leave their contact information by calling 182 183. 

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

In memories of the victims of the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has made the following mourning arrangements:

From November 29 to December 1, national flags and regional flags displayed at all government buildings (including offices of the HKSAR Government outside Hong Kong) will be flown at half staff. During this period, government officials will not attend non-essential public activities. All entertainment and celebration activities organised or funded by the Government will be cancelled or postponed as appropriate.

The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, together with principal officials, Non-official Members of the Executive Council and civil servants, will observe a three-minute silence at 8am tomorrow (November 29) at the Central Government Offices, to mourn for the victims of the fire in Tai Po.

During the mourning period, the Home Affairs Department will set up condolence points in all 18 districts for the public to sign condolence books to mourn for the victims. The condolence books will be available for signing from 9am to 9pm between November 29 and December 1.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak; the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, and the Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin met the media today (November 28) regarding the follow-up work on the No. 5 alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Following are their remarks at the media session:

Reporter: Firstly, we just want to ask how would the government go about coordinating the hundreds of millions of dollars of physical donations and also monitoring the donation? How to distribute and also make best use of these donations and resources? And the second question, does the government have the latest information on the number and nationalities of domestic helpers that are missing, injured or dead as a result of this fire, and what will be done to support these domestic helpers, their employers and their families?
 
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs: As you see, the Government has already set up a Support Fund (Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po) to support the residents affected by this mega fire. We are consolidating the needs of various households to introduce different measures and schemes to help our affected residents. The first one being the $10,000 petty cash program which we launched yesterday. Till now, we have received and processed nearly 1,200 applications. Hopefully, we can distribute the money to the residents within these two days. This is the $10,000 petty cash to each affected household. Apart from that, we understand that each family will face different needs and difficulties during this incident. We are going to provide another $50,000 living allowance or subsidies to help each household. For this, we encourage all the affected households to register through the social workers of the Social Welfare Department. You can call 182 183 to reach social workers and give them your details and the social workers would process all these applications for you. For those unfortunately deceased, we will provide the families with $200,000 each, we hope to show our respect to the deceased and help the families in need in this difficult moment. All in all, we will screen and see all the needs and try to introduce more timely measures and schemes to help all those in need.
 
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: Thank you. For foreign domestic helpers, we understand that quite a number of helpers work in this estate, taking care mostly of the elderly people and also children and babies. The Labour Department together with the two consulates, namely the Indonesian Consulate and also the Consulate of the Philippines, arranged a visit to this site to help them identify and understand the situation of missing foreign domestic helpers in this court. So I provide you with the latest number provided to us by the two Consulates.
 
     The Indonesian Consulate confirmed two deaths for Indonesian domestic helpers, one unverified death, two injured, and also 11 of them are missing. For the Filipino foreign domestic helpers, so far we have gathered information from the consulate is one unverified death, one injured, one is reported missing, and also there are altogether 32 in the process of locating them. We are working closely with the two Consulate Generals to help the foreign domestic helpers.
 
     I think there are two major concerns with the foreign domestic helpers right now. One is about the living requirement. In their contract, they have to live in their reported residence. Right now, there is no way for them to get back. We are going to make special arrangements for them to make sure that they are still in compliance with the visa conditions of staying here in Hong Kong. The second is for those who died at the fire. There is already a standard provision in their contract so we will make sure that they will get all the necessary help, including getting their bodies back to either to Indonesia or back to the Philippines. Also, all the death compensation will be arranged in accordance with their standard contract for foreign domestic workers.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

    The spokesperson for the Hospital Authority (HA) announced today (November 28) that a Patient Care Assistant of Psychiatry Department of Tai Po Hospital (TPH) passed away in the fire tragedy. The HA expresses deep sorrow and extends profound condolences to the bereaved family.
 
​The spokesperson said, “The deceased colleague had worked at TPH for years, serving patients with professionalism and dedication and earning respect and affection of fellow colleagues. The hospital has reached out to the family to express its condolences and will provide the utmost support, including an emergency fund to help the family through this difficult time. The hospital will offer further assistance, including psychological support and counseling, as well as arrangements for other necessities, hoping to help the family move beyond their grief as soon as possible.”
 
The HA understands that TPH’s staff members may also be affected by the incident. The New Territories East Cluster has initiated mechanisms to provide psychological support and counseling to those in need, and the hospital has set up a memorial corner to honor the deceased colleague.
 
Additionally, there is one HA colleague still found missing in the fire tragedy. The HA will continue to maintain close contact with the family and relevant government departments, hoping to locate this colleague as soon as possible.
 
About 60 HA colleagues from various hospitals have lost their homes in the fire. The hospitals have provided assistance to the colleagues affected, including temporary accommodation and compassionate leave arrangements. If colleagues have any other special needs, the HA will do its utmost to assist them during this challenging time.
 
The spokesperson emphasised that the HA will spare no effort in caring for the colleagues affected by the fire, standing by them to ensure they can focus on post-incident arrangements, move beyond their grief and resume a normal life as soon as possible.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, this afternoon (November 28) convened a coordination meeting with financial regulators to enhance support for residents affected by the recent fire incident at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, attended the meeting, along with senior representatives from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Insurance Authority (IA), the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes Authority, and the Securities and Futures Commission.

At the meeting, Mr Chan instructed the financial regulators to step up coordination and mobilise banks, insurance companies, MPF trustees and other financial institutions to provide timely and effective assistance to the affected residents. For examples:
 

• proactively reaching out to affected residents to understand their needs and offer assistance;
• streamlining procedures and expediting the processing of service and claims applications with discretion, wherever possible;
• adopting a lenient approach in handling delayed payments of loans, contributions and insurance premiums by affected individuals;
• giving priority and simplifying procedures in handling account matters related to the deceased;
• establishing a cross-sectoral coordination mechanism among financial institutions to enhance information flow and speed up response efforts; and
• extending service hours of bank branches in the district on Saturdays and Sundays to better serve local residents.

Mr Chan said, “The residents affected by the fire are going through an extremely difficult time. Financial institutions should adopt a compassionate and empathetic approach, respond flexibly to the actual circumstances and needs of each family, and proactively provide appropriate support.”

He stressed that addressing the immediate needs of the affected residents is the top priority. During the post-incident recovery and beyond, sustained support and care to the residents will be essential. He expressed hope that banks, insurers and other financial service providers would introduce ongoing support measures to help relieve any future financial pressure faced by the affected residents.

In line with the above directives, the HKMA and the Hong Kong Association of Banks will separately announce further measures today.

Separately, the IA has set up a dedicated task force to coordinate the insurance sector’s responses, including the handling of public enquiries and claims. Insurers are also offering various forms of assistance, including prioritising claims processing, expediting payouts (such as waiving the requirement to produce a death certificate for death benefit claims), offering premium holidays or extended payment deadlines, and providing interest relief on policy loans. Some insurers are also providing emergency cash assistance or making advance payments to cover temporary accommodation costs.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Following the establishment of a task force to launch a full investigation into possible corruption in the grand renovation project of Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, the Independent Commission Against Corruption today arrested eight individuals, all of whom are being detained for further enquiries.

The arrestees, aged between 40 and 63, include seven men and one woman. Four of them are from the consulting firm of the grand renovation project, namely two directors and two project managers responsible for supervising the project. Three others are scaffolding subcontractors, including a couple who are the proprietors of a company. The remaining arrestee is a middleman.

Search warrants were executed today at 13 premises, including the offices of the consulting firm and the subcontractors, as well as the residences of the arrestees. Works documents and bank records were seized.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

In view of the fire incident at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced today that the Hong Kong leg of the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities (NGD) and the 9th National Special Olympic Games (NSOG) torch relay, originally scheduled for 9.30am tomorrow, will be cancelled.

The announcement was made in accordance with a notice issued by the office of the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG Organising Committee.

The special traffic and transport arrangements will be aborted accordingly.

In addition, the torch relay events tomorrow in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Macau will not be held.

The opening ceremony of the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG previously scheduled to take place in Guangzhou on December 8 will also be cancelled.

A simple closing event will be organised after all competitions of the 12th NGD and the 9th NSOG conclude.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

In memory of the victims of the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, from November 29 to December 1, national flags and regional flags displayed at all government buildings, including offices of the Government outside Hong Kong, will be flown at half staff.

During this period, government officials will not attend non-essential public activities. All entertainment and celebration activities organised or funded by the Government will be cancelled or postponed as appropriate.

Chief Executive John Lee, together with principal officials, Executive Council non-official members and civil servants, will observe a three-minute silence at 8am tomorrow at the Central Government Offices, to mourn the victims of the fire in Tai Po.

During the mourning period, the Home Affairs Department will set up condolence points in all 18 districts for the public to sign condolence books to mourn for the victims. The condolence books will be available for signing from 9am to 9pm between November 29 and December 1.