Per week after Hong Kong’s lethal hearth, some residents return for belongings | USAEMALL.com

TEMPORARY HOUSING INADEQUATE FOR MANY

More than 2,600 residents have been put in temporary accommodation, the government said, with 1,013 residents staying in hostels, camps or hotel rooms. Another 1,607 residents have moved into transitional housing units.

“I can’t sleep at night, thinking about my home. Everything that I have earned for decades is gone,” said a 71-year-old woman surnamed Leung, who had come back to the complex with her husband and daughter to speak with support staff there.

Leung and her husband had been put in transitional housing last week after the fire torched their apartment. However, she said the location was too far from public transport and too small to house both of them. They have opted to stay with their daughter instead as they search for more suitable housing.

Leung’s 41-year-old daughter, Bonnie Leung, said it was “unfathomable that such a tragedy, so many deaths, can happen in Hong Kong.”

“Dad and mum, and many residents have struggled for so many years. Having a home here gave us peace, it is very painful to lose everything.”

INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING, REVIEW OF BUILDING RENOVATIONS

Amid calls for transparency and accountability, Hong Kong’s leader John Lee has ordered a committee, headed by a judge, to investigate the cause of the deadly fire and review oversight of building renovations.

Residents of Wang Fuk Court were told by authorities last year they faced “relatively low fire risks” after they complained about fire hazards posed by the renovations, the city’s Labour Department said.

Authorities have pointed to substandard plastic mesh and insulation foam used during renovation works at the high-rise estate for fuelling the blaze.

Legislative elections due to take place on Sunday will go ahead as planned, Lee said, drawing criticism from residents, including a 31-year-old woman surnamed Yeung.

“I think it’s quite ridiculous to continue organising the election. Hong Kong people are still under immense trauma after the incident.”

Turnout for that vote – in which only candidates screened by the government as “patriots” can run – could serve as a barometer of public frustration over the handling of the fire.