The Government’s handling of support, relief and investigation work in respect of the fire last week at Wang Fuk Court is ongoing.

Financial, welfare aid

With regard to the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, established by the Government, donations had reached $2.1 billion as of noon today. Factoring in capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund now amounts to $2.4 billion. The money will be used to assist residents in rebuilding their homes and providing long-term support.

The families of each deceased victim will be offered a $200,000 token of solidarity from the fund, as well as $50,000 to cover funeral costs. To date, 52 cases have been processed.

In addition, the fund will provide a living allowance of $50,000 to each affected household. So far, 326 cases have been processed.

As of 4pm, the Government had registered around 1,930 households for an emergency subsidy of $10,000, with disbursements being made to 1,921 households. Eligible households can collect their subsidies at the Home Affairs Enquiry Centre in the district where they are currently staying, or at the Tai Po Home Affairs Enquiry Centre.

Social workers from the Social Welfare Department have been in contact with more than 1,600 affected households so far to help them register for the “one social worker per household” service. Departmental staff also paid a visit to residents staying in transitional housing units in Tai Po today, and distributed Octopus cards with face value of $2,000.

Accommodation support

A total of 1,152 residents have been accommodated, via the co-ordination of the Home & Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 1,765 residents have moved into transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or the Hong Kong Housing Society.

Relief supplies

The Government has received over 1,100 registrations of items for donation, including food and beverage items, clothing, daily necessities, bedding, and electrical appliances.

Handling of reported missing persons

Police have completed searches at all seven buildings at Wang Fuk Court. Around 600 officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit conducted searches at the two most affected buildings today and handled three sets of newly found human remains. The number of the deceased has been updated to 159.

Investigations

The Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit sent a team to Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan (under the Tenants Purchase Scheme) and to Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po (under the Home Ownership Scheme) today to collect samples of on-site protective nets. The contractors also provided test certificates.

Separately, the Labour Department continues to inspect fire protection facilities and the fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding. As at 4pm today, it had inspected 175 construction sites, issued a total of 92 written warnings and 49 improvement notices, and taken out 13 prosecutions.