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Thursday, August 10, 1972
accommodation
After registration, victims who need temporary shelter because
they have nowhere else to go to, are usually housed in transit centres
maintained by the Resettlement Department. But when these overflow,
is made available in Social Welfare Department community centres and
estate welfare buildings, particularly when they are located near the
sites of the disasters.
Public Assistance field officers are recognisable because they
wear an insignia with the departmental emblem. They have at their fingertips
all the information victims need for registration and help.
"They should be approached," Mr. Lu explains. "They are there to
serve the public, and they should be used."
Registration, followed by hot meals and shelter, does not exhaust
the list of services provided after an emergency.
There is also a distribution
of blankets, personal necessities such as towels and toothpaste, and
cooking utensils.
If families are separated, field officers help in the search for
missing members, and if the loss includes death, there are payments towards burial expenses and future maintenance. Field officers advise survivors
as to how to go about applying for public assistance in monthly cash grants.
"In fact," says Mr. Lu, "the Public Assistance Division of the
Social Welfare Department is very much in evidence on the scene of disasters
wherever and whenever they occur. The staff try their best to serve the
public in moments of the greatest need."
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