Hong Kong’s grassroots community groups have sprung into action to help coordinate and deliver aid to the survivors of the Wang Fuk Court fire, a catastrophic blaze that is confirmed to have killed at least 128 people, with hundreds still missing.
Restaurants, churches and gyms in the Tai Po area, where the Wang Fuk Court housing estate is located, have been turned into temporary shelters for people in need of clothes, food and information as a result of the tragedy.
Some have compared the sudden and well-organised mobilisation of volunteers to the support networks that emerged during the 2014 and 2019 pro-democracy protests, when thousands of Hongkongers helped to deliver supplies to the frontlines of the demonstrations.
“Since the two movements in 2014 and 2019, citizen-led supplies mobilisation have become part of our muscle memory,” said Michael Mo, a former district councillor who now lives in the UK.
A crowd-sourced web app has collated reports from people about each building, identifying individual apartments in each tower, with available details of the residents. People can mark themselves as safe, or submit information about who is still missing from certain apartments.
Another website has an interactive map which shows where supply stations are available in the Tai Po area. There is also a platform for coordinating volunteer shifts.
There are also numerous fundraising platforms that are collecting donations, including the government’s “Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po”, which has a startup donation of HKD$300m (£29,172,600) from the government.
Messages flooded social media platforms and messaging apps with call-outs for help. On Telegram, the encrypted messaging app that was widely used during the pro-democracy protests, channels appeared for different duties such as Tai Po drivers, Tai Po helpers and Tai Po fire support. Users post lists of supplies that are needed at various locations, such as folding tables, mattresses and cleaning supplies. Many of the groups already have thousands of members.
The Hong Kong Red Cross said its blood banks had eight to 10 days’ worth of supplies and it appealed to residents to book an appointment for future donations.
Elsewhere, a group of Hong Kong lawyers posted a call-out on social media for volunteers to support victims with tenancy and land law questions, employment issues and other legal matters that may arise from the deadly blaze. The group said it was aiming to prepare a list of frequently asked questions to distribute to frontline NGOs and affected individuals to “help them understand their legal rights, options and possible next steps in a clear and accessible way”. The materials would be available in Chinese, English, and possibly other languages used by ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, the group said.
At least two Indonesian domestic workers are confirmed to have died in the fire.
Questions are already swirling about how the fire could have spread so quickly across the seven tower blocks in Wang Fuk Court that were affected. Residents had complained for more than a year about possible fire hazards in the building relating to the construction work that sheathed the blocks in bamboo scaffolding and green netting. Authorities have also pointed to the highly flammable Styrofoam used in elevator window coverings on every floor.
On Friday, the head of the fire services, Andy Yeung, confirmed what many residents had been claiming for days: that no fire alarms went off in any of the towers.
Three people associated with the contractor, Prestige, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. The South China Morning Post reported that Prestige had been convicted of two safety offences in 2023, before it won the contract for the renovation works at Wang Fuk Court. Prestige has not commented on the disaster.
Another crowd-sourced web project is an initiative to preserve the minutes of meetings of the Wang Fuk Court homeowners association, where concerns were raised about the bidding process for the renovation works.
The labour department told residents last year that there was a relatively low risk of fire at the site. Nevertheless, it said the contractor had been repeatedly warned in writing about other unsafe working practices at Wang Fuk Court.
