Ordinance did not apply, deserving cases were referred to the Brewin Trust Fund Committee* for financial assistance. There were 29 such cases during the year.
CHAPTER X
EMERGENCY RELIEF
62. In the field of emergency relief the year was the busiest since 1953-54 -the year of the Shek Kip Mei holocaust. No less than 66 major and minor disasters befell the Colony and this Iliad of woes caused another 65,000 people to be placed temporarily on the relief register. (See Appendix 17). The disastrous floods at Yuen Long in May of 1960 placed 6,344 people temporarily on relief while typhoon Mary accounted for another 31,810 in the following month. Of the other disasters, 43 were fires, the most serious of which was the Valley Road fire on January 16, 1961; it destroyed 1,200 huts and rendered 11,338 persons homeless. Landslides, shipwrecks and the collapsing of houses completed the disaster picture.
63. The havoc wrought by typhoon Mary underlined the need for some sort of permanent relief fund for the Colony. After the typhoon, the major newspapers initiated a fund for the relief of its victims. This was eventually turned into a permanent Community Relief Fund to be administered by the Social Welfare Department.
64. A total of over $1,370,000 was collected for the Fund from local and a few foreign contributors and from this sum grants were made to people who were injured or who had their homes, including their fishing vessels, destroyed by the typhoon; the dependants of those who were killed were also given grants. A total sum of more than $776,000 was distributed and the balance was held over for the relief of victims of future disasters.
65. After the Valley Road fire, the Department distributed $100 per family to the victims from the Community Relief Fund. The total amount distributed was about $253,000. The Hung Hom Valley Road Fire Emergency Relief Committee, formed by the 28 Kaifong Welfare Associations, also received contributions directly from the public, and distributed about $700,000 to the victims at the rate of $50 per head. In addition it provided temporary matsheds to accommodate about 5,000 of the homeless.
* See annual report of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
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