Making sense of HK’s man-made tragedy via Mr Chabuduo’s tale

Fictional character's embrace of quick fixes, low standards seen in housing estate's safety lapses.

- Magdalene Fung

The international news cycle has moved on from the deadly blaze that started that dry windy afternoon on Nov 26 in Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court housing estate.

But the city has not.

At least 160 people died in the inferno, trapped in their flats, the corridors, stairwells and rooftops of the seven high-rise buildings encased in scaffolding, mesh and foam boards.

Six remain unaccounted for, and nearly 5,000 people have lost their homes.

It was Hong Kong’s worst disaster in more than 70 years.

Many of us are still struggling to make sense of it, myself included, having covered the incident and closely followed the details of every development that has emerged since.

On Dec 17 - the 21st day since the disaster - I revisited Wang Fuk Court, retracing my steps, recalling my interactions with its distraught residents at the scene as firemen fought to bring the blaze under control in the first few days.

Three weeks on, a slight smouldering smell continues to linger in the air.

A police presence remains as well, with several officers standing guard and patrol vehicles parked at cordoned-off areas around the housing estate.

Police tents sit on the podium of the neighbouring estate overlooking Wang Fuk Court, where self-organised volunteers had distributed necessities in the initial days.

At a sheltered walkway steps away, members of a nonprofit organisation run a booth offering to chat with young people traumatised by the blaze and in need of a listening ear.

As the sun sets and the lights come on in the surrounding estates that moonless evening, the dark outlines of the charred towers look particularly stark, brutal even, against the Tai Po skyline, as if determined to remind every passerby of the city’s recent sorrow.

A young boy in uniform, chatting cheerily with his helper, sneaks a few serious glances back at the burnt buildings as he passes. Some adults stop to snap a shot on their phones.