LAND AND HOUSING
95
-a
60 others were injured. The Mid-levels landslide destroyed two buildings in its path- fully-occupied 13-storey reinforced concrete post-war block of flats, and a four-storey private residence in Kotewall Road which had been evacuated. As a result of the Mid-levels landslide, 67 people died. The recovery of their bodies from the wreckage was a grim task involving round-the-clock excavation, cutting and dismantling for a period of more than two months before the last body was extricated. On August 18, the Commission submitted an interim report about the Sau Mau Ping landslide. It made several recommendations on measures to avoid similar incidents in future. This report was accepted by the government, and the recommendations are being imple- mented. The Commission's final report was submitted on November 29, and was being considered by the government at the end of the year.
A number of buildings in the Mid-levels area which had either been damaged by the landslide or were threatened by the possibility of further landslides had to be closed temporarily. Extensive works were necessary to make the area safe and as a result it had not been possible to allow all the closed buildings to be re-occupied by the end of the year.
There was a very substantial increase in the backlog of plans submitted by author- ised architects to the Buildings Ordinance Office as staff were diverted from their normal duties to deal with damage wrought by the storm, resulting in even longer delays in processing plans. This led to the passing of the Buildings (Amendment) Ordinance 1972 which suspended for a period of 3 months from June 15, 1972 the statutory time limits within which plans and occupation permits must be dealt with by the Building Authority. Although considerable efforts were made during this period to reduce the backlog and resultant delays, it was found necessary in September to extend the period of suspension to December 31, 1972 by passing the Buildings Ordinance (Extension of Operation of Section 30A) Regulations 1972. An assurance was given at the time that all applications for occupation permits and for consent to commence work would be processed by the Buildings Ordinance Office within 14 days and 28 days respectively. On December 10, the suspension of the time limit for the approval of plans was again extended up to March 31, 1973 to enable the problem to be examined in depth.
The report of the Committee of Inquiry appointed to consider matters arising from the closure and demolition of Chong Hing Mansion (a terrace of 10-storey post-war domestic buildings) in 1971 was published in September. The committee concluded that the law and administrative procedures in the Public Works Depart- ment were adequate to ensure that a building is not occupied until an occupation permit has been issued. Among its recommendations were that:
(i) consideration be given to devising means of improving the reliability of certificates signed by authorised architects and registered contractors, and (ii) the Control and Enforcement Section of the Buildings Ordinance Office be revived to detect and deal with unauthorised changes of use (following the occupation of a building).
Steps have been taken to implement the recommendations regarding statutory certifi- cates by substantially increasing the professional staff of the office which will enable