Jointly Implement Prevention and Control Measures
Better Home: Joining Hands to Build a Solid Safety Line for Festivals
As the end of the year approaches, the festive atmosphere in Macao is getting increasingly strong, with a series of large-scale New Year countdown events kicking off one after another. Legislators Wong Kit-ching, Chairman of the Co-build a Better Home Association, and Lui Yee-ying, Vice Chairman, extended their festive greetings to residents. They pointed out that as an international tourism city, while welcoming a huge number of tourists, the rise in population density and activity frequency will also lead to a corresponding increase in urban safety risks. To ensure the overall peace and order of the society, they called on the government, individuals and communities to strengthen joint prevention and control efforts, and work together to build a solid safety line during the festivals.
Prepare Sound Contingency Plans for Large-scale Events
According to the data released by the Public Security Police Force, as of 11 a.m. on December 27, the cumulative number of tourists visiting Macao this year has reached 39.411 million, exceeding the 39.406 million recorded in 2019. With the end of the year approaching and the Spring Festival around the corner, especially the upcoming three-day New Year’s Day holiday on the Chinese mainland, Macao will host a dense schedule of festive events, including over 30 large-scale concerts, New Year’s Eve countdowns and cross-year activities, which are expected to attract a large number of tourists and residents.
Wong Kit-ching and Lui Yee-ying suggested that relevant departments should strengthen the inter-departmental cooperation mechanism before and after the holiday, especially strengthen the leading supervision over large-scale gatherings. They urged the organizers to conduct comprehensive risk assessments, formulate and implement complete safety contingency plans covering crowd control, evacuation routes, medical first aid and item management. It is also necessary to enhance patrols in tourist areas and around hotels, conduct timely traffic diversion and crowd control, and disseminate safety knowledge to tourists through multilingual channels to ensure the effective communication of information. While seizing the momentum of tourist growth, efforts should be made to improve the overall social safety awareness and response capabilities.
Individual Prevention is the First Line of Risk Control
Individual prevention is the first line of defense for risk management. While enjoying the festive joy, residents should take the initiative to enhance their awareness of home fire prevention, safety in participating in large-scale events and traveling. This includes regularly inspecting electrical appliances and gas equipment to avoid overloading of electricity use. Both residents and tourists should cooperate with the government, understand the crowd control, evacuation routes and item management safety contingency plans of the event venues, and strictly abide by traffic rules, refraining from drunk driving. For residents planning to travel abroad, they should take the initiative to learn about the safety situation of their destinations, master crisis response methods and contact information of emergency units.
In addition, according to the data from the Public Works Bureau, nearly 40 construction projects are currently underway in Macao, especially in the New Urban Zone A where renovation works of many units are being carried out simultaneously. In this context, the effectiveness of community and venue management entities directly affects the safety of relevant areas. Although construction projects may be suspended before and after the holiday, safety management must not be relaxed. They called on all construction sites to strictly follow safety guidelines, implement the steps of “cleaning, inspection and locking”, properly dispose of waste and flammable materials, and store dangerous goods in dedicated warehouses. At the same time, property and hotel management should strengthen patrols in building and hotel corridors and public rooftops, ensure that fire exits are unobstructed and under surveillance, and enhance access control and verification of strangers to reduce public security risks.
