That is based on the assumption that the buildings will not need to be rebuilt.
That came as the government set up a HK$300 million fund for victims and latest figures put the toll of those who perished in the city’s deadliest blaze in decades at at least 94.
Speaking on RTHK’s Hong Kong Today programme, Edward Chan, past chairman of the structural division of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, said now that the raging flames at most of the blocks had been brought under control, follow-up assessments would be carried out to determine what remedial works were needed.
“The first round of inspections would be mainly visual, as we’ll be looking for any deformations on the structures, especially if there’s any excessive deflections on the slabs and beams, or major cracks in the columns,” he said.
“There’ll be an assessment on the overall structures before formulating the next step.”
Noting that the slabs and beams inside the flats would be the most vulnerable as they absorbed the extreme temperatures, Chan said comprehensive reviews would also be carried out to examine the vertical columns as they carried the main load of the buildings.
The next step, the veteran engineer added, would be assessing the extent of the remedial work, including the time and cost required, as well as people’s feelings on the matter.
“Human feelings would also need to be taken into account, in terms of how all the residents would think about going and living there again. That is also an important consideration,” Chan said.
“But as this is a very, very serious fire, involving almost the whole of the buildings, from the ground all the way up to the top, so even for one block, I would not anticipate it would be any quicker than a few months,” he added.
Chan called for a review of the city’s regulations as well as their enforcement when it comes to building safety, noting that the current framework, “as everybody can now see, has failed in the case of this terrible fire incident”.
He said that while there are proper regulations and codes of practices for safe building materials, neither those codes nor supervisory procedures had been properly observed.
“I think the overall feeling is that we should be very careful about the tendering process, the choice of the proper contractor and usage of proper materials,” Chan said of maintenance projects similar to the one in Wang Fuk Court that ended up being such a colossal disaster.
