Residents who lost their homes in a massive fire at an apartment complex last year began returning for the first time to collect what is left of their belongings.
The city’s deadliest fire in decades killed 168 people when it ripped through seven of the eight apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court complex in November.
For the first time since then, around 6,000 residents are being given three-hour windows to enter their homes from yesterday and get their belongings.
Officials have advised residents to prepare mentally, and required them to wear face masks, hard hats and gloves before entering their apartments.
Steven Chong, 50, who retrieved a computer uploaded with family photos from his flat, said he had used the time to bid farewell to his cat, who died in the fire.
“I don’t know where he died, but I went to the spot where he usually liked to sleep and told him to reincarnate soon,” Chong said.
“It was strange, there were many things that I stopped noticing while living there, going back now, it was like, oh so that’s how I had decorated it, I forgot.”
More than 920 homes were damaged and some completely destroyed by the blaze, according to the fire department.
Images released by government officials show the ceilings and walls of some flats have collapsed or been charred black, and the interiors littered with debris.
Damaged areas of the residential complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district have been cordoned off as “danger zones”, while reinforcement works have been carried out where the building structure was compromised.
With 1,700 flats to pick through, authorities hope the belongings retrieval process will be completed by early May.
Survivor Harry Leung, one of the last residents to leave the complex on the day of the blaze, said that he had mixed emotions about his return.
Hong Kong officials have offered to buy the apartments back around the pre-fire market price, despite the damage, but said that rebuilding the complex on the same site was “not feasible”.
“I believe there are actually quite a few people who don’t want to accept (the government’s offer), but have no other options. They’ve been forced to accept it,” Leung said.
“If I had a choice, I really wouldn’t want to leave (Wang Fuk Court),” he added. — AFP
