In response to the scaffolding net removal order issued by Hong Kong’s Buildings Department, the external wall scaffolding nets on all 230 private buildings have been removed.
The Independent Review Team of the Hong Kong Housing Bureau continued to extract concrete cores from the affected buildings at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po today, covering all seven blocks.
Under the supervision of the Review Team, the contractor has basically completed the clearance of debris found on parts of the scaffolding at Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po, On Kay Court in Kwun Tong, Shui Wo Court in Sha Tin, Ching Lai Court in Sham Shui Po and Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan in recent days. The Review Team will continue to conduct regular inspections and monitor the situation.
As of noon today, the Wang Fuk Court Assistance Fund set up by the government has received approximately 3 billion Hong Kong dollars in donations from the public. Together with the 300 million Hong Kong dollars in seed funding injected by the government, the total amount of the fund stands at around 3.3 billion Hong Kong dollars, which will be used to assist residents in rebuilding their homes.
The government previously announced that the fund would provide living allowances to each affected household. As of today, 1,617 cases have been processed. The fund also provides a 200,000 Hong Kong dollar condolence payment and a 50,000 Hong Kong dollar funeral subsidy to the families of each deceased person. As of today, 106 such cases have been handled.
Social workers from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have so far contacted over 1,970 affected households and registered more than 4,900 residents for the “one household, one social worker” follow-up service. SWD staff visited affected residents temporarily staying at the transitional housing in Kai Tak today and distributed Octopus cards with a face value of 2,000 Hong Kong dollars to facilitate their daily travel.
As of this morning, a total of 1,431 residents have been accommodated in youth hostels/camps or hotel rooms coordinated by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau; another 2,530 residents have moved into transitional housing units managed by the Housing Bureau or projects under the Hong Kong Housing Society.
The online supplies donation platform built by the government in collaboration with the information technology industry has received over 1,700 registrations to date, and more than 16,000 items of supplies across various categories have been delivered to multiple locations.
Officers from the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Team have completed the search around the perimeter of the confirmed safe buildings and near the collapsed scaffolding, and have found suspected bones that will undergo further testing. The next phase of the search will resume after the scaffolding nets and scaffolding have been removed.
In addition, further laboratory tests have confirmed that a set of remains discovered earlier actually belongs to two deceased individuals, bringing the total number of fatalities to 160, of which 120 sets of remains have been identified. The police have contacted the families of missing persons and those who have made preliminary identifications of remains via photos, and will continue to arrange for them to provide samples in batches today for scientific identification to confirm the identities of the remains.
The Hospital Authority stated that all 24 injured persons from the Tai Po fire who are still hospitalized are in stable condition.
The Fire Services Department has set up safety ropes on the platform of Wang Tai House to access the basement pump room, enabling the DVI Team to continue search operations in hard-to-reach areas of the disaster site. In addition, the Inter-departmental Investigation Task Force held another meeting today to continue its investigation into the cause of the fire.
As of 4 pm today, the Labour Department has inspected 371 construction sites, issued 189 written warnings and 101 improvement notices, and initiated 25 prosecutions.
