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Topic Originator: hurricane_jimmy
Date: Sat 29 Nov 15:03
Many of you will have see the news reports of the apartment fire in Tai Po here in Hong Kong, which is the largest in a number of years. Honestly, just absolutely horrendous stuff and now a death toll of 120+
I`m basically curious about what information has been broadcasted over there?
A lot of what I have seen seems to be focussing on the bamboo scaffolding. Bamboo is actually a water dense material and, usually, the strands used for construction are chemically treated to reduce potential flammability even further. it has also been reported that the green netting was not properly treated with a fire retardant and also that some windows had been covered with styrofoam blocks which aided the rapid spread of the fire.
There has been a campaign in HK to try and reduce building costs recently, as they are apparently the highest in Asia. This has resulted in a number of construction companies using cheaper and lower quality materials from Mainland China instead of importing from elsewhere (there was actually quite a big scandal recently about the MTR using cheaper Chinese tiles instead of the German ones stipulated in the contract and folks in the company embezzling the funds). This really is becoming a bit of a theme with highly propagandised bridges and other things in the Mainland collapsing because there have been corners cut.
Funnily enough, there have also been recent attempts to outlaw the bamboo scaffolding, but it was found that these have been driven by members of the HK legislature that have connections to mainland companies that produce steel...funny that!
Other developments I learned of tonight from a local friend that lives in Tai Po:
There have been Mainland Chinese scammers giving out forms to elderly and other victims asking for Card Numbers, Pin codes etc. This was discovered when one of the elderly victims approached a real volunteer with the form and it was circulated on Instagram and Threads.
On the night this happened, there were Mainlanders posing and making Daoyin (Tik Tok) posts with the Fire Engines and then posting on Red Note that there are "freebies" available in Tai Po, with a number of folk turning up and pretending to be victims to get said freebies.
There were also four Mainlanders arrested for hunting down stray dogs and cats - that had obviously escaped the fire and fled - and then barbequing them. (It`s actually quite common to eat Cat and Dog meat in the mainland)
Now the HK Police are claiming that there are protesters among the volunteers up in Tai Po "attempting to sew disunity and divide Hong Kong".
Honestly, incredible how low some people can sink?
Really sad for all those involved, but you can almost guarantee that there`ll be various attempts to sweep the real causes of this under the rug.
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Topic Originator: ipswichpar
Date: Sat 29 Nov 15:37
Main things I`ve taken away from the reporting.....
Bamboo
Netting
How challenging it was for the rescue teams
How challenging it was due to the size of the buildings
Fire alarms didnt work
The speed of the burn
Many people are now displaced with nowhere to go
A handfull of people have been arrested for fraud and manslaughter (I assume for cutting corners on build quality)
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Topic Originator: jake89
Date: Sat 29 Nov 16:21
I`ve seen the bamboo and netting mentioned but not suggested as being the cause. It sounds like the issue has been non-working fire alarms and covering the building in styrofoam during renovations.
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Topic Originator: Bletchley_Par
Date: Sat 29 Nov 18:30
Quote:
This really is becoming a bit of a theme with highly propagandised bridges and other things in the Mainland collapsing because there have been corners cut.
I`ve certainly not seen this, the idea promoted is that China can build things faster, better an cheaper than anyone else.
Disaster carpetbaggers have always been around.
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Topic Originator: twin par
Date: Sat 29 Nov 19:30
It was literally,a giant bonfire,so many things wrong. Have to say,I think building regulations in this country,are first class.Had a friend who lived in Australia,and he worked on a ship yard,and said health and safety is 20 years behind us.
Post Edited (Sat 29 Nov 19:35)
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