Residents return to ravaged homes months after Hong Kong fire

HONG KONG: Hong Kong residents who lost their homes in a massive fire at an apartment complex last year began returning on Monday (Apr 20) 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 Monday 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, told reporters 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,” he added.

Another resident, who did not give his name for privacy reasons, said his whole house had burned down after the fire entered through an open window.

“There is nothing to go back to,” he said, after visiting his flat.

“We hung around to take a look, commemorated it, and left.”

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 process will be completed by early May.

A 50-year-old resident surnamed Chung told reporters that he had prepared a screwdriver, scissors and plastic bags before returning to his flat on Monday.

“Once I’m up there, some places like the keyhole might be full of dust, and I’m worried I won’t have the tools (to deal with it) if some parts need to be taken apart,” he said.

“WOULDN’T WANT TO LEAVE”

Survivor Harry Leung, one of the last residents to leave the complex on the day of the blaze, told AFP that he had mixed emotions about his return.

While keen to see the flat where he had spent most of his life, the three-hour slot, Leung said, was not enough time.

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 told AFP.

“If I had a choice, I really wouldn’t want to leave (Wang Fuk Court),” he said.

Betty Ho, who plans to return in May to the flat she lived in for more than 30 years, told AFP that what she wants most to retrieve are the photo albums of her childhood.

Her family’s “entire life’s possessions are inside that building”, Ho said.

After the fire – the world’s deadliest residential building blaze since 1980 – Ho relocated to temporary housing set up for Wang Fuk Court residents near the estate.

For now, she is allowed to stay there until the end of the year, but she told AFP she felt anxious and powerless when faced with the uncertainty of her future accommodation.

“Will we be evicted?” she asked. “Where will I find somewhere to live?”