The Hong Kong government has pledged to give HK$50,000 in living allowance to households affected by the fatal Tai Po fire and another HK$200,000 to households that have lost a family member in the blaze.
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak said on Friday that households at Wang Fuk Court would receive the HK$200,000 condolence money for each family member who died in the blaze.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will also assist with arranging funeral services, including cremation and columbarium allocation, as well as covering the expenses, Mak said at a press conference.
“We are doing this because we know the families who have lost their loved ones must be grieving, especially when their homes have been burned,” Mak said in Cantonese.
She also said that starting next week, the government would provide a HK$50,000 living allowance to all affected households as immediate relief.
The sum comes on top of the HK$10,000 cash handout for each affected household, announced by Chief Executive John Lee on Thursday.
Mak said that, as of Thursday, 78 households had received the HK$10,000 handout, while over 1,200 more registered households would receive the money between Friday and Saturday.
The inferno at Wang Fuk Court has killed at least 128 people, with about 200 more still unaccounted for, according to authorities on Friday afternoon.
Authorities believe the fire started at the netting covering the lower floors of one building at Wang Fuk Court before igniting the foam boards installed outside the windows during year-long repair work.
The blaze spread quickly and engulfed seven of the eight residential blocks.
According to the Fire Services Department, firefighters largely put out the fire at around 10am on Friday – about 43 hours after it started.
On Thursday, police arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter. The trio are two directors and an engineering consultant at Prestige Construction & Engineering Co Limited, a firm responsible for renovation works at Wang Fuk Court.
The following day, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) arrested eight people on suspicion of corruption linked to the HK$330 million renovation project at Wang Fuk Court.
