XN000022-1996-04-03 — Page 67

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Reports of unidentified gas leakage incidents.

Following is a question by the Hon Yum Sin-ling and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Peter Lai, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Reply:

(a)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

(b)

(c)

of the respective numbers of cases of unidentified gases hitting residential areas and schools in the past three years as well as the districts in which such incidents occurred;

whether the source and type of gases can be identified after investigation; if so, what are the sources and types of these gases, and whether such gases are harmful to human beings; and

whether there is sufficient equipment for detecting unidentified gases, and what contingency measures will be taken in the event of unidentified gases being found?

The number of reported cases of unidentified gas affecting residential areas and schools during the period from 1 January 1993 to 27 March 1996 are shown in Table 1 below.

(b)

Table 1:

Reports of unidentified gas

Residential areas

School

Hong Kong

228

5

Kowloon

835

10

New Territories

535

38

1598

53

The result of our findings after investigation are shown in Tables 2 to 6 below.

Table 2:

Cases being reported with good intent but where no gas was identified

Residential areas

School

Hong Kong

145

2

Kowloon

652

8

New Territories

329

30

1126

40