XN000022-1972-08-10 — Page 8

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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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