Hong Kong Fire Puts Focus on Missed Warnings

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Transcript

00:00I'm here at Kwong Fook Centre, which is just across from the scene of the fire.

00:04You can see here that there are mattresses and residents clearly seeking refuge in this area overnight

00:11because it was very chilly and there are volunteers organizing the donation drive,

00:18giving out shampoos, so disposable underwear, mattresses, blankets to just make people feel comfortable for the night.

00:24The government has opened up nine shelters, mostly community centres,

00:30that they will keep them open as long as residents need it.

00:33And if you take a look over here, you can see there are still beddings and the things that some of the residents have left behind.

00:41The question is what to do for these residents longer term.

00:44The government has identified about 1,800 empty apartment units across Hong Kong that could serve as transitional housing.

00:52And it's been extremely heartening actually to see residents coming together to donate everything they can.

01:00A lot of that had sprung up organically, not organized by the government.

01:05John Lee, the chief executive, had announced that the government will be giving out HK$10,000 per family.

01:13But that is just HK$1,300, not a great deal considering the high cost of living in Hong Kong.

01:19And really not a lot to cheer about given the anonymity of the losses here.

01:26Again, here you can see some of the beddings that are left behind.

01:30There are a lot of questions now with the ongoing criminal investigation.

01:35And it's not just a corporate failure here and the three men from the engineering company that were arrested.

01:42It's also a question of whether there was negligence from government departments as well.

01:46The Department of Labor had visited the site of the renovations as recently as last week.

01:53So they knew of the substandard materials and yet it seemed like nothing had been done to prevent the fire.