Fire relief allowance doubled to HK$100,000 for affected families in Hong Kong

HONG KONG -- Alice Mak Mei-kuen, secretary for home and youth affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, said on Thursday that the living allowance for families affected by the Tai Po fire has been increased from 50,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $6,423.98) to 100,000 Hong Kong dollars per household.

The HKSAR government has so far distributed 10,000 Hong Kong dollars in emergency subsidies to each of the 1,929 families. Social workers from the Social Welfare Department of the HKSAR government have so far reached out to over 1,700 affected households, offering emotional support, coordinating supplies, and practical daily assistance.

As of Thursday morning, 1,241 residents have been housed in hostels or hotels, and 2,235 have moved into transitional or Housing Society units.

The "Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po" set up by the HKSAR government has so far received 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars in external donations. Together with the 300 million Hong Kong dollars in seed funding contributed by the HKSAR government, the fund now totals approximately 2.8 billion Hong Kong dollars, which will be used to assist residents in rebuilding their homes.

The Education University of Hong Kong, located in Tai Po district, also activated its emergency response mechanism and formulated a series of measures to support affected students and residents following the fire.

In addition to opening certain indoor sports facilities and other campus amenities, the university has also recruited retired teachers, psychologists, and others to provide temporary learning spaces and emotional support for families and students affected by the fire. (1 US dollar = 7.78 Hong Kong dollars)