The Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po, which claimed 160 lives, was the greatest disaster in the city in recent decades. Amid profound grief, society demands not only immediate substantial support for the victims and their families but also deep reforms in building maintenance, fire safety, and regulatory systems.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has launched comprehensive rescue and mopping-up operations while ordering a criminal investigation by the police, an anti-corruption investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), and an independent inquiry led by a judge. This reflects the authorities’ intention to advance both “immediate aid for the afflicted” and “prevention of future risks” simultaneously. Transforming this into sustainable systemic progress will be a major test of the governance capabilities of the SAR administration.
In the aspect of post-disaster support, the SAR government’s action features speed and scale. The government swiftly established three interdepartmental task forces, demonstrating high-level direct oversight and cross-departmental coordination. The government distributed emergency cash allowances to affected households, with over 1,900 households receiving the first batch by Dec 3. The government injected HK$300 million ($38.5 million) to establish the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, which soon reached over HK$3.4 billion, including over HK$3.1 billion from public donations. The funds will assist residents in rebuilding their homes and provide long-term support, with families of the deceased receiving HK$200,000 in assistance and an additional HK$50,000 for funeral expenses. This aid illustrates that both the government and society want to send a clear message to affected families on financial and emotional levels: You are not alone.
The government has adopted a “people-centered” approach in handling post-fire tasks. It launched a one household, one social worker program, assigning dedicated social workers to each affected family to provide tailored emotional support, welfare referrals, and life arrangement coordination based on their specific situations. This demonstrates equal respect for people from different communities in handling post-disaster humanitarian support.
Only by facilitating “aid, accountability, and reform” simultaneously and effectively can society transform pain into energy and make Hong Kong a better place to live, allowing the deceased to rest in peace, the living to find solace, and helping the city to emerge safer and more resilient
The authorities have also recognized the need to effect systemic reform to prevent such a tragedy taking place ever again. In terms of criminal and causation investigations, the police, in collaboration with the ICAC, have formed a joint task force to delve into issues such as suspected manslaughter, fraud, and regulatory lapses in engineering consultancy. They have arrested over a dozen individuals from building and engineering consultancy firms and a registered fire services installation contractor, in connection with a corruption probe into the renovation work at Wang Fuk Court.
More importantly, the judge-led independent committee will conduct a comprehensive review of the fire and related systemic issues and come up with recommendations.
According to current information, the committee’s key terms of reference include: safety requirements, regulations and maintenance systems for building repair works; potential conflicts of interest in projects, benefit transfers, and bid-rigging in engineering processes; lists of material safety standards and their review mechanisms; oversight responsibilities of government departments and accredited professionals at different project stages; supervision arrangements for fire safety system installation and operation; and whether relevant laws and penalties are sufficiently strict. In other words, the committee focuses not only on “what went wrong this time” but also examines, from a systemic dimension, “what similar problems might recur”, seeking to plug longstanding institutional gaps through updates in legislation, systems, and professional norms.
It’s worth noting that the Dec 7 Legislative Council election allows newly-elected members to promptly assume duties and deliberate on issues regarding post-disaster reconstruction, support measures, and related legislative reforms, including appropriations. Many potential regulations involving building safety, maintenance oversight, and fire safety equipment will require review and passage by the legislature before implementation.
In the aftermath of tragedy, societal emotions are understandably heightened, with people questioning or even criticizing the government being part of what makes a healthy society; but it is a different matter that some political agitators tried to exploit the disaster to disseminate false statements, smear rescue and support efforts, and incite hatred against the authorities. In a rule-of-law society, making a distinction between rational oversight and political maneuvers exploiting a tragedy is essential. The authorities emphasize that any illegal acts, regardless of their nature, must be handled according to law upon discovery, especially those exploiting the fire tragedy to provoke animosity and disturbances.
The Wang Fuk Court fire is a huge collective trauma and a “magnifying glass” that revealed some systemic flaws. The immediate priority is to ensure every affected family receives sustained support in economic, housing, and mental health aspects; in the medium term, investigations by the police, ICAC, and the dedicated causation task forces must pursue all potential criminal and professional liabilities; in the long term, the judge-led independent review committee must conduct a comprehensive systemic review and, with the cooperation of the new Legislative Council, translate findings into specific legislation and regulatory reforms.
Only by facilitating “aid, accountability, and reform” simultaneously and effectively can society transform pain into energy and make Hong Kong a better place to live, allowing the deceased to rest in peace, the living to find solace, and helping the city to emerge safer and more resilient.
The author is a specialist in radiology, founding convenor of Hong Kong Global Youth Professional Advocacy Action, and an adviser of the Our Hong Kong Foundation.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
