7
Thursday, August 10, 1972
SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT'S ASSISTANCE DURING AND AFTER TYPHOONS
**
The Social Welfare Department's emergency teams go into operation
during the typhoon season when the No. 5 signal is hoisted, and from
that moment onwards, procedures are geared for immediate aid on both
sides of the harbour in case of need.
Mr. Lu Yu-hua, Principal Social Welfare Officer in charge of
public assistance operations, says emergency relief teams on the Island
and in Kowloon are manned by a staff of eight, supplemented by additional
staff if the emergency calls for it.
All are mobilised on the hoisting of the No. 5 signal, no matter
what the time, and are under instructions to respond with the utmost speed
to distress calls. These could be any natural disaster in addition
to typhoons, for example, servere rainstorms, landslides, house collapses,
and floods.
As field staff register victims for aid, two kitchens on both
sides of the harbour begin preparation of hot meals for distributions
among the dispossessed. Kitchen hands also go on the alert at the No. 5
signal, so that a minimum of delay is encountered between the occurrence
of a disaster and the availability of meals.
Mr. Lu says the Happy Valley and Hung Hom kitchens can jointly
produce a maximum of 100,000 meals a day, and on occasions have done so.
Once begun, these meals continue on a two-a-day basis until the emergency
has passed. Victims not requiring them, or who so prefer, are given dry
rations instead, and the supply is usually enough for two weeks.
/After