5 -
"We will as soon as possible examine the affected structure to see whether it is safe for the residents to go back," she noted.
"If in the longer run, they can not go back to their own apartment, then we will certainly offer alternative accommodation elsewhere."
End/ Saturday, March 25, 1995
Transcript of the CS
The following is the transcript of the media session by the Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, after officiating at the 75th anniversary thanksgiving ceremony of the Hong Kong Y.W.C.A. this (Saturday) afternoon.
CS: Good afternoon everyone. I want to say a few words about the arson incident at the bedspace apartments. Can I first of all say that I was very, very sorry to hear about this incident and, in particular, to hear that three people had died and three were injured. To those who died, I extend my deepest condolence and to those who were injured, I hope they will make a speedy recovery. As we know, we've moved very fast to provide temporary accommodation for those affected in the Princess Alexandra Community Centre. The Secretary for Home Affairs has been out to visit the victims and he's briefed me fully on the situation and on the help that we're extending. We will certainly spare no efforts to make the lives of those who are temporarily accommodated in the community centre as comfortable as possible. We will as soon as possible examine the affected structure to see whether it is safe for the residents to go back. But clearly, there will have to be some repairs. In the meantime, we will accommodate them at the community centre. If in the longer run, they can not go back to their own apartment, then we will certainly offer alternative accommodation elsewhere. On the general front of bedspace apartments, as you know, we have a registration programme in force now. We will move as quickly as possible. We'd already registered 150 of these apartments and the whole purpose behind the registration system is to ensure that we can lift the standard, both the safety standard and the sanitary standard to an acceptable level, so that we can provide a better standard of accommodation for those affected.
Question: Mrs Chan, how do you react to Chinese vessel illegally entered the Hong Kong waters?
CS: We have expressed our concern to the Chinese authorities via the NCNA. I am glad to know that in fact the number of such incursions have in fact decreased quite appreciably. I believe that in 1993, we had 15 such incidents. Last year, we only had seven and so far this year, we only had one. But clearly, we are concerned and we've drawn the Chinese authorities' attention to this concern.