Hong Kong people warned they may be ill-prepared if disaster strikes
Hong Kong conference hears that people may be ill-prepared to handle a catastrophic event
Hong Kong people have become too complacent about a major disaster hitting the city and would be ill-prepared if catastrophe did strike.
This was the key message that emerged from a three-day conference looking at the city's preparedness and response in the event of a major disaster.
"The dialogue coming out from the discussions is that increasingly, communities need to be more engaged because a lot of times people depend on the government and rescue forces," said Kevin Hung Kei-ching, director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute, which coorganised the conference.
"The risk is rare but in big events, often people in Hong Kong are really not prepared because it's not like in Japan where they might be better informed about earthquake risk."
He listed landslides, tsunamis, outbreaks of infectious diseases and fires as the types of major disasters that could hit Hong Kong.
At the conference, which wraps up today, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said the city must "recognise that a government-centric approach to emergency management is not enough to meet the challenges posed by catastrophic incidents".
"There is a need for us to engage the community more actively in enhancing their awareness and capability for building resilience and reducing our vulnerability to disasters," Lai told the audience.
The conference is the first major event to be organised by the institute, which was formed last year with a HK$271 million donation from the Jockey Club Charities Trust that will keep it running for five years.
"Internationally, there's a lot of discussion on disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness," said Hung, a doctor who specialises in emergency medicine. "It's all about planning and really thinking about issues so in the last few days, we've talked a lot about how we prepare for the unexpected."
He said while Hong Kong was lucky to have escaped major disasters in recent years, it was also not immune to disasters, listing the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003 as an example.
"But if you think about the last time we had power cuts or big restrictions on water supply, that would go back to 20 or 30 years ago. So I think people need to be reminded and given a correct preparedness message.
"For instance, people had incorrect responses during the Fukushima disaster [in 2011] when they went out to buy salt," Hung said, referring to the mass panic that saw Hongkongers rushing to stockpile salt amid rumours that it would protect them from radiation exposure.
