Mainlanders, government, businesses quick to offer assistance

Mainlanders have joined their compatriots in Hong Kong in an outpouring of grief and support as investigations and relief efforts continue into the fatal fire that ravaged Wang Fuk Court on Wednesday.

As of 4 pm local time on Sunday, the fire at the residential complex in Tai Po had left 146 dead, according to Hong Kong police.

So far, the government support funds for the fire have reached HK$1.1 billion ($141.3 million), with HK$800 million coming from donations from dozens of major listed companies and charitable foundations across the country and HK$300 million from government grants, according to Cheuk Wing-hing, deputy chief secretary for administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, has opened a "green lane" for RMB donations originating on the mainland to ensure they instantly reach the recipient account in Hong Kong. According to the PBOC, this arrangement aims to support the search and rescue work, treatment of the injured and relief efforts.

John Lee Ka-chiu, the HKSAR's chief executive, along with principal officials of the HKSAR government and civil servants, participated in a memorial service at the government headquarters on Saturday.

With the national flag and the HKSAR flag hoisted at half-staff, all officials present observed a three-minute silence in mourning for the fire victims.

During a three-day mourning period, the HKSAR government will set up condolence points in all 18 districts across the city, enabling the public to sign condolence books and mourn the victims.

A task force to investigate possible corruption in the renovation project was also launched, following the police's arrest of three senior staff members of renovation company Prestige Construction and Engineering Co, for alleged manslaughter.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption, Hong Kong's anti-graft body, said it had arrested eight individuals in connection with the fire, including an engineering consultant, a scaffolding subcontractor, and an intermediary.

Authorities also met with industry representatives to discuss the phasing out of bamboo scaffolding, commonly used in building work in the city, in favor of metal alternatives.

Meanwhile, a nationwide inspection of fire hazards in high-rise residential and public buildings has been announced.

In a notice issued on Saturday, the Work Safety Committee of the State Council, China's Cabinet, instructed local governments to immediately carry out checks and fix problems in occupied residential towers, office buildings, hospitals and shopping complexes. The campaign aims to prevent accidents linked to renovation work, aging facilities and blocked evacuation routes, the committee said.

Quick to act

On Thursday, rescue and supporting services were quick to receive support from neighboring Guangdong province. A volunteer convoy from Huizhou, Guangdong, traveled through the night to deliver emergency supplies of thousands of towels and blankets.

"Do we have enough masks now?" a volunteer cried out at a makeshift relief center in Tai Po. She was surrounded by a sea of donations, including clothes, boxes and trolleys filled with daily essentials.

When Faye Jiang and her colleagues learned that volunteers were needed to help residents in Tai Po's fire-hit area, they swiftly organized a relief effort.

On Thursday, they brought necessities such as socks, disposable underwear, fruit and drinks for the residents.

The decision to help was made without hesitation after they had arrived at their Admiralty office in Hong Kong that morning. They pooled HK$30,000 to purchase supplies and rented a van to deliver them to the site.

"It's touching to see so many people voluntarily helping out at such a difficult time," Jiang told China Daily. "Some of them came from Shenzhen (Guangdong) on Wednesday night and have stayed here ever since."

Ten employees from Jiang's company — half of the office — took the trip. Like Jiang, who has lived in Hong Kong since 2011, some of them are also originally from the Chinese mainland. "It is a true embodiment of 'blood is thicker than water'," Jiang said.

After hearing the news of the Tai Po fire, 63-year-old Shenzhen resident Zhang Lixin departed around 6 am on Thursday for Hong Kong, carrying bottles of medicinal oil for joint pain and blood circulation.

Meanwhile, government agencies have helped arrange support supplies, and a multitude of mainland enterprises and foundations have made donations. Public organizations, government-invested enterprises, and private firms have pledged tens of millions of dollars to support rescue and relief efforts.

Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Group together committed HK$30 million to support fire relief efforts. Alibaba founder Jack Ma also pledged HK$30 million through his charitable foundation to provide emergency aid to those affected.

Sportswear maker Anta said it would donate HK$30 million in cash and equipment. Xiaomi Corp and ByteDance each pledged HK$10 million to aid the rescue efforts and support victims of the blaze. Tencent, which initially donated HK$10 million, later increased its pledge to $30 million.

More than 40 private enterprises have committed over HK$600 million in donations to the rescue effort as of Wednesday, according to estimates by The Paper, a Shanghai-based news outlet.

The fire rescue efforts have also drawn HK$10 million from China's private equity firm HongShan Capital Group (HSG).

Separately, private equity titan Jean Eric Salata, Chairperson of EQT Asia, also pledged HK$10 million through his family office, Central Cove, to fund grief and psychological support, education resources for displaced children, and financial relief for victims' families.

Losses, survival

The fire reportedly started around 2:50 pm in one of the court's residential towers. The blaze quickly escalated and eventually spread to six adjacent buildings before being largely extinguished at 10:18 am on Friday.

The apartment complex of eight, 31-story buildings in Tai Po, near Hong Kong's boundary with the Chinese mainland, was built in the 1980s. It had almost 2,000 apartments and more than 4,600 residents. The complex had been undergoing a HK$330 million renovation work when the fire struck.

Survivors recounted loved ones' narrow escapes, while others told of tragedies.

"At 3:11 pm, I called my daughter and said: 'Fire! Get out!'" a mother surnamed Ng recounted, her voice hoarse from crying.

Ng, her hands trembling, said the last text she received from her daughter was at 3:25 pm, "then her phone went dead".

Ng was among the distraught survivors at the CCC Fung Leung Kit Memorial Secondary School on Thursday morning — one of 10 sites converted into temporary shelters citywide. The site is just over 100 meters from her charred home.

She had just reported her daughter was missing, but said she was determined to search every shelter and hospital in the city to try and find her.

At the school-turned-shelter, a man surnamed Lai took it upon himself to log the missing, organized by building names, floors and units.

A woman surnamed Ran, who arrived at the shelter with supplies, said her family home faced Wang Fuk Court across a small garden square.

"We were home at 2:55 pm, and that was when we noticed the smoke — flames right up to the sky — jumping from one building to another," she said.

"I looked at the fire, and then my children looked at me. We were terrified. Last night, fear kept me upstairs, but the distress of not doing anything left me restless.

"Now I can't stop thinking if our building isn't safe either. They said there's something wrong with the fire alarms, and all these towers are old," Ran said.

Ran said she made a point of opening the window to show her children the fire scene. "I explained to them what I was about to do and why mommy had to help and that in times of crisis, everyone must all do their part, with a loving heart."

Before Ran's arrival at the shelter, a basketball court-sized plaza near the fire scene was covered with donations of winter gear, pork buns, instant noodles, water, lights, toiletries and even pet food.

Preliminary investigations showed the fire started on a lower-level scaffolding net on one of the buildings. It then spread rapidly as the windows were covered by Styrofoam boards to the neighboring six houses, said Hong Kong's Secretary of Security Chris Tang Ping-keung on Friday, when the fire was finally extinguished after 43 hours.

Police also said they had been looking at the highly flammable foam panels. "The blaze ignited the foam panels, causing the glass to shatter and leading to a swift intensification of the fire and its spread into the interior spaces," Tang said.

The Building Department has suspended 30 private building projects on safety concerns, including 28 that were managed by the contractor at Wang Fuk Court.

The fire was the deadliest in Hong Kong in eight decades. A 1996 fire in a commercial building in Kowloon killed 41 people. A warehouse fire in 1948 killed 176 people.

Many of the survivors are now housed in short-term emergency shelters or city hotels, and authorities are working on longer-term solutions.

Meanwhile, Chinese mainland authorities on Saturday initiated a mechanism to coordinate emergency supplies for disaster response and relief following the fire, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

A disaster aid package has been provided to the HKSAR government, including portable outdoor charging stations, heavy-duty conveyors, blowers, respirators, goggles, protective suits, headlamps and waterproof boots, the ministry said. The mechanism was jointly launched by the office of the national commission for disaster prevention, reduction and relief, and the MEM.

The National Fire and Rescue Administration supplied more protective boots and other materials to the HKSAR government, supplementing the previously provided emergency equipment, which includes lighting drones, reconnaissance drones and fire rescue boots, according to the ministry.

Stacy Shi, Yang Zekun and Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com