8. Some 37,000 persons had been resettled by these methods when the situation was drastically altered. On Christmas night 1953 the worst fire in the history of the Colony broke out in the crowded squatter colony at Shek Kip Mei and within a few hours 53,000 people were homeless. The usual emergency relief measures were put in hand at once but it was immediately clear that the ordinary methods of resettlement would be quite inadequate to deal with a disaster of this magnitude. A major change in policy was made, and it was decided to put in hand at once the construction of emergency two-storey buildings on the fire site to rehouse the fire-victims, and to meet the cost from public funds.
9. At the same time the Urban Council appointed an Emergency Sub-Committee on Resettlement to consider the measures necessary for re-housing fire victims as well as proposals for the solution of the squatter problem as a whole. This Sub-Committee came to the con- clusion not only that the existing measures were not producing quick enough results, but that they would never solve the squatter problem because there was not enough land available to house the remaining squatters in one, or even two-storey buildings. The solution proposed was the construction of six or seven-storey buildings by Government, a possibility to which consideration had already been given by the Public Works Department. A second important recommendation was that a new department should be created which would be responsible for all matters connected with the clearance of squatters and their resettlement, a responsibility which had previously been divided between three separate departments.
10. These recommendations were accepted by Government and the first Commissioner for Resettlement was appointed on 19th April, 1954. Later that month the staff of the Resettlement Division of the Urban Services Department was taken over and the squatter patrols were transferred from the Public Works Department. The screening teams from the Social Welfare Office joined about six weeks later. Additional administrative staff was appointed, and by early June, 1954, an effective unified organization was in being.
11. The new Department's immediate task was to resettle the many thousands of Shek Kip Mei fire victims living in huts on the streets, a task that was considerably lightened by the speed with which the Public Works Department erected two-storey temporary buildings on the fire site. The first units of emergency accommodation had already been completed on the fire site by February, 1954, and within a few
3