Victims of Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades have called for a unified platform to access funds and resources, as some elderly people say they feel “exhausted” having to travel around and repeatedly provide their personal information to different parties for support.
Several people who lost their homes in the Tai Po fire, which had claimed 151 lives as of Monday, told the Post that while retrieving new identity cards and other documents from the Immigration Department was a smooth process, they faced difficulties navigating funds and other forms of support dispersed across various locations.
The Immigration Department said on Monday that the first batch of 70 identity cards, more than 300 travel documents and certificates, 112 Mainland Travel Permits and other papers issued by mainland Chinese authorities were available for pickup at five locations from 1pm to 9pm.
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David Wong, a 73-year-old retiree, arrived at the Church of Christ in China Fung Leung Kit Memorial Secondary School – formerly a shelter and now a service centre – to collect his new identity documents.
He was among 330 residents who took the designated shuttle bus to Immigration headquarters in Tseung Kwan O on Saturday, after they pre-filled their information earlier at nine shelters in Tai Po.
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“I really appreciate their beyond-five-star service, which made the process of getting our new identity card and travel documents very smooth,” said Wong, who hoped such one-stop services could be expanded to other forms of resource distribution, such as cash funds.