22
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
mitment $46 million has already been spent at the time of writing. The commitment was undertaken because the spec- tacle of such extremes of misery, need, and danger in the heart of a prosperous city could no longer be tolerated. And when one considers the causes of the problem, its develop- ment and the incidence of moral as opposed to circumstantial responsibility for its amelioration, it can hardly be said that those decisions were devoid of courage and altruism.
To return to the Shek Kip Mei fire. There were something over 50,000 persons homeless. There had been serious
squat- ter fires on earlier occasions, but the total homeless in all of them, spread over four years and a diversity of areas, was not greater than those now affected by the events of a single night. In terms of the destruction of human habitation it was incomparably the worst fire in the Colony's history. For- tunately, and here again a tribute must be paid to the quali- ties of courage, resource and charity which grace the Chinese character, just under half of the fire victims contrived to make their own arrangements for new accommodation either by renting spaces in other areas or by packing themselves into the already overcrowded huts or bed-spaces occupied by friends or relatives. This left about 27,000 persons on the streets in the vicinity of their old home. In these streets they were allowed to erect such shelters as they could either from the salvage of the fire (the fire site itself was kept entirely clear after an interval for search) or from such other materials as they were given by the authorities or could obtain elsewhere. Temporary latrines and bath-houses were provided in the streets, communally cooked food was distributed daily by Government, temporary clinics were established, warm clothing and other necessities were distributed by charitable organizations and a very widely supported relief fund was inaugurated. All remains of the fire were bulldozed into the earth as, with the Army's help, the whole site was levelled and drained in order to give the maximum possible new building land. The first units of