The latest batch of residents to return to their flats in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court under special government arrangements said prayers and left bouquets on Wednesday as a final farewell to their fire-ravaged homes.
The residents, who were among 79 households that registered to visit Wang Sun House in the morning, arrived at the building with trolleys, backpacks and bags, some carrying stools to aid their arduous climb up at least 20 floors.
An elderly woman surnamed Tang, who lived on the 24th floor, said she and her friends would pray together before the climb.
“There’s no goodbye to be said up there. I just hope to retrieve my cat’s ashes,” she said.
Tang said her dead 19-year-old cat’s ashes were stored in a china jar and kept within a stainless steel box.
“Its melting point is supposed to be around 1,500 degrees Celsius. I think it hasn’t melted yet.”
The inferno last November killed 168 people and damaged all but one of Wang Fuk Court’s eight blocks.
Under the return scheme, residents are allowed three hours in their flats, excluding time spent on the stairs. Up to four people per household may return at a time.
About 6,000 residents have registered with the government to visit their former homes and collect belongings.
A resident surnamed Lam, who lived on the 24th floor of Wang Sun House, said that her home was left severely burnt, with only one person allowed to enter the flat at a time.
Several steel props have been installed in the flat to prevent the ceiling from collapsing because of the structural damage.
Lam said she had managed to retrieve some jewellery, including jade bracelets and two watches.
A man was seen carrying a plastic bag and a backpack, with flowers, on his way up to his former home.
Another resident, Mandy Wong, who would be walking up to her 25th-floor home with her elder sister and mother, said she had prepared herself mentally for the trip.
“My feelings are a bit different from my mother’s. I don’t have many valuables there, and I kind of hope to declutter as well,” Wong, who is in her forties, said.
She planned to take pictures of the flat as a way to bid a final farewell to her former home and to her dog, which died in the fire.
Wong’s home had blackened walls, with window frames scorched and the kitchen ceiling peeling. But her piano and sheet music remained intact, the red velvet cover still retaining its sheen and colour against the blackened surroundings.
As residents would have to walk up 20 to 30 flights of stairs to reach their upper-floor homes, some elderly people chose not to make the trip.
An 80-year-old resident, surnamed Leung, said the climb to her 30th-floor home would be too strenuous for her.
“I’ve tried, but I wouldn’t be able to come down even if I could go up. My legs would be shaking,” she said, adding that her son-in-law would make the trip.
A resident in her seventies, surnamed Ng, said she lived on a middle floor but was unable to return home due to poor health.
But others in her family would go on her behalf. They hoped to retrieve photographs of her children, if any remained.
“I hope to go up in the near future if my condition allows,” she said, despite holding little hope of recovering other valuable items from her flat.
A resident of a 25th-floor flat, who gave his surname as Ng, said the fire completely gutted his home. He said he could only salvage a few metal boxes, some coins and a cup from the ashes.
“The cup is the last survivor, a reminder for me to live on with resilience,” he said.
Steven Chow, whose elderly mother used to live on the 22nd floor, said he only managed to retrieve gold pieces, a ring and some porcelain items, including a doll he gave to his late father when he was young.
“All the cash and old photos were gone,” he said.
For some residents, trekking up more than 20 floors for a glimpse of their former homes meant closing a chapter of their lives, but for others, it was a sight best left unseen.
A man surnamed Ng, 44, who was set to go up to the 25th floor with his father, who is in his seventies, said he would focus on resettlement arrangements after the visit.
“I’ll say goodbye to the flat silently. It’s like a temporary end to step one, as there are many steps to tackle later,” Ng said.
A 68-year-old resident surnamed Tam said she could not convince her 78-year-old husband not to return to their 30th-floor flat.
“We were lucky not to have lost anyone in the family, but whenever I think about my neighbours, I feel glum. Not going up is not a big issue, I don’t want to feel too sad,” Tam said.
To help her husband scale 30 floors and search the flat, his family had channelled their creativity in providing him with some improvised tools, she said.
These included a modified stick to help Tam dig through debris, some small rakes and a sieve to sift for precious metals in the ashes.
“He didn’t practise walking up the stairs until the 30th floor. I hope he can make it today. He’d better not come down midway,” Tam chuckled.
Police received seven reports of suspected loss of property, but the items were later found in six cases with the help of officers.
“For the remaining one case, there were no signs of ransacking in the unit, and the residents could not provide details on the property concerned,” the government said.
There were five cases of residents seeking help due to physical discomfort and three of people seeking psychological counselling services, it added.
Residents from 154 households on the lower and middle floors of Wang Sun House visited on Monday and Tuesday, while those living on higher levels returned on Wednesday, the final group in the block.
They were given helmets and protective gloves before entering the building, which has no electricity.
Residents began returning to Wang Fuk Court on Monday to retrieve belongings, with 264 people from 77 households visiting Wang Sun House that day.
On Tuesday, a father found a single Gundam figure belonging to his son, while a wedding photographer retrieved the charred remains of his Leica cameras, which he said were worth HK$600,000 (US$76,600).
Some residents strapped on exoskeleton assistive devices to aid their climb, while others used metal detectors to search for melted items and gold in their homes.
Families from Wang Cheong House, Wang Yan House and Wang Tao House will return between April 23 and 28.
Time slots for residents in the remaining three blocks – Wang Tai House, Wang Kin House and Wang Shing House – are scheduled between April 29 and May 4.
Arrangements for Wang Cheong House and Wang Tai House, the more severely damaged blocks, will take six days to complete, with access limited to five floors per day. The other buildings will be open for three days. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
