sibility for Squatter Control in and around the New Territories' largest township to this Department. Each section is under the control of an Assistant Resettlement Officer, whose duty it is to supervise the Area Officers under his charge. The Resettlement Officer, Squatter Control at Headquarters is responsible for the administration and operations of the whole division.
(b) The Resiting of Homeless Squatters
10. In addition to the prevention of new illegal structures, the officers of this Division have a number of other duties, of which the most im- portant is the resiting of the victims of fires in Squatter Areas. During the year there were two fairly large squatter fires near the Tai Hang Tung Estate, in each of which more than 1,000 squatters were made homeless. Altogether there were 29 fires in which a total of 4,469 persons were made homeless.
11. Typhoon ‘Olga' destroyed 19 huts and rendered 187 persons homeless.
12. The victims of most of these disasters were allocated temporary sites on or near the sites they had previously occupied. In a few instances they had to be resited further away. Some of the victims who were occupying an area which was already due for clearance were given immediate resettlement in rooms which had already been reserved for them. Families who lost their homes in these disasters and were required to rebuild their huts were given money from the Community Typhoon Relief Fund, in addition to the usual relief provided by the Social Welfare Department and voluntary agencies.
13. The Division has a number of temporary resite areas, where sites are allocated to rooftop dwellers when the tenement itself is destroyed or demolished for redevelopment, or to tenants of tenements which are permanently condemned as unsafe for occupation. Tenants of buildings demolished for redevelopment are normally compensated under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance and are not assisted in this way. 3,684 rooftop squatters and 368 tenants were resited during the year.
14. Resiting is occasionally used to clear land for development, if no resettlement accommodation is immediately available for urgent clearances. In these cases the Squatter Control Division allocates sites to the squatters and supervises the rebuilding work. 1,592 structures comprising 7,808 persons were moved in this way during this year.
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