Government announces updates on Task Forces' follow-up work on Tai Po fire
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Meanwhile, the Government continues to make full efforts in following up on the support, relief, and investigation work related to the fire. The latest progress made by various bureaux and departments under the Task Force on Investigation and Regulation, the Task Force on Emergency Support and Fund-Raising, and the Task Force on Emergency Accommodation Arrangements - led respectively by the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration, and the Deputy Financial Secretary - is as follows:
Financial and welfare support
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For the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po established by the Government, as of noon today, the donations received have reached $2 billion. In addition to the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund's total has reached around $2.3 billion. The fund will be used to assist the residents in rebuilding their homes and providing long-term and sustained support. The Government earlier announced that the Support Fund will provide the families of each deceased victim with a token of solidarity of $200,000, as well as $50,000 to cover funeral costs. As of today, a total of 21 cases have been processed, and disbursements are underway. In addition, the Government also announced that the Support Fund will provide a living allowance of $50,000 to each affected household. As of today, 104 cases have been processed, and disbursements are also underway.
To provide immediate relief for affected residents, the Government has been offering an emergency subsidy of $10,000 per affected household since the evening of November 27. As of 4pm today, the Government had registered more than 1 930 households for the subsidy, with disbursements made to 1 916 households.
Social workers of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with more than 1 500 affected households so far for registration of the "one social worker per household" follow-up service. The SWD also deployed social workers and clinical psychologists to accompany families in attending vigils at the scene today and provided them with emotional support. The SWD will maintain liaison with the affected households for provision of all necessary assistance while fully backing the support and relief work of the Government. Those not yet in touch with the SWD are advised to leave their contact information by calling 182 183 as soon as possible.
Accommodation support
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As of this morning (December 2), 1 013 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps or hotel rooms. Another 1 607 residents have moved into transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or units of the Hong Kong Housing Society. In addition, the Tai Po District Office continues to operate a temporary shelter at Tai Po Community Centre, which remains open to residents in need. As for the other temporary shelter at the Tung Cheong Street Community Hall, it will no longer accept new users but will remain in operation until the existing users have relocated to the arranged emergency accommodation.
Relief supplies and donations
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The supplies donation online platform (www.taipodonation.hk) established by the Government and the information technology sector began operation on November 30 to facilitate registration of supplies donations from organisations and members of the public. Together with the information provided by members of the public via WhatsApp earlier, the Government has so far received over 860 registrations with different kinds of donation items including food and beverages, clothing, daily necessities, beddings and electrical appliances. The Government will consolidate information of all donation items and distribute supplies to residents in need as necessary.
Funeral services
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The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has arranged dedicated staff for each family of the deceased to assist them in making funeral arrangements at their preferred time and location. The FEHD has set up a service counter at the Fu Shan Public Mortuary and will proactively contact the families through the social workers of the SWD. Once the families have made decisions, the FEHD will follow up on the relevant arrangements promptly. The FEHD also maintains close liaison with the funeral trade to provide necessary assistance to the families.
Besides, the Government will waive fees for columbarium and related services, and will provide $50,000 to the families of each deceased individual through the "one social worker per household" service to cover funeral and related expenses.
Education support
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The school premises of Tai Po Baptist Public School (TPBPS) will remain closed for a certain period of time due to the fire. In order to facilitate early resumption of the normal teaching routine of TPBPS and provide proper care for the students, the Education Bureau (EDB) has co-ordinated with schools in Tai Po District to deploy available classrooms and has arranged for TPBPS students to attend classes by grade level at the school premises of Tai Po Government Primary School and N.T.W.J.W.A Christian Remembrance of Grace Primary School from the middle of this month. The EDB has set up a working group dedicated to implementing the above arrangements. The Government will earmark $5 million to support the operations of the above schools during the transition period and provide appropriate learning and teaching assistance for students and teachers.
Handling of reported missing persons
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The Police have earlier completed searches at five buildings and started searching the remaining two most affected buildings yesterday (December 1). Today, 330 officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit (DVIU) were deployed to continue the search. The Fire Services Department (FSD) personnel are also supporting the DVIU by forcing open doors at the scene and providing relevant information. As of 4pm today, the Police handled 13 sets of human remains in the buildings, including five sets of newly found and eight sets found by firefighters but yet to be removed. The number of the deceased has been updated to 156. The Police will continue to follow up on the reported missing persons, aiming to confirm their status and the number of casualties as soon as possible.
The forensic pathologists from the Department of Health continued to assist personnel from the DVIU on-site in collecting evidence, making every effort to help identify the deceased. As of 4pm today, the next of kin of 116 victims have completed necessary procedures at the Fu Shan Public Mortuary.
Investigations
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The FSD continues to take photos and gather evidence at the fire scene, and is discussing with the Lands Department to create a 3D model to assist the investigation.
The Police have so far arrested a total of 15 people on suspicion of manslaughter, including two individuals from a construction company arrested last night, and 13 individuals from various construction companies arrested earlier. The Police have accorded top priority to the case and are gathering evidence through various channels for a thorough and in-depth investigation. The possibility of further arrests is not ruled out.
Regulation and inspection work
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The Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau conducted a meeting with structural engineering experts and professionals from the Housing Department (HD) today to study the structure of the buildings in Wang Fuk Court in detail and formulate an action plan for the extraction of concrete cores samples for detailed analysis. Additionally, firefighters are assisting the HD with temporary reinforcement work for 13 units in Wang Cheong Court.
The ICU today contacted representatives of Sui Wo Court, Ching Lai Court, Yee Kok Court and On Kay Court once again and noted that the registered contractors have proactively started dismantling the protective nets in the respective housing courts. The ICU will continue to monitor the situation. For Wang Chi House, the contractor of the HD will remove the plastic sheeting on the external walls as well as the protective nets after departments, including the FSD and the Labour Department (LD) have completed collecting evidence on-site.
Relevant departments continued the special inspections of existing buildings undergoing major external wall maintenance, and took samples for testing from buildings installed with scaffold nets. As of today, the Buildings Department (BD) has taken samples from 352 private buildings and sent them for testing in batches. The Architectural Services Department has also inspected all 18 of its public works building projects and collected samples for testing. In order to enhance the accuracy of whether the relevant materials meet the fire-retardant requirements, the departments are adopting rigorous and extensive sampling methods, taking samples from different parts of the external walls of buildings. Due to the large sample size (with thousands of samples being drawn), it will take considerable time to conduct the sampling and testing, and all parties will strive to complete this as soon as possible. Apart from the two buildings where plastic sheeting was found blocking the windows as announced earlier (removed already in accordance with the Government's instructions), the BD did not find other buildings that used foam boards or plastic sheeting to block windows.
The LD launched a territory-wide special enforcement operation on November 28, targeting the fire protection facilities and fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding erected. This includes checking if protective screens (also known as scaffold nets) on scaffolds are in compliance with recognised standards for fire-retardant materials to safeguard the occupational safety of workers. As of 4pm today, the LD has inspected 110 construction sites, issued a total of 70 written warnings and 46 improvement notices, and has taken out 11 prosecutions.
Ends/Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Issued at HKT 23:33
Issued at HKT 23:33
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