Hong Kong fire survivors at Wang Fuk Court await resettlement plans

Описание: (10 Feb 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong - 6 February 2026
1. Phyllis Lo, who lost her mother in fire, cutting turnips for traditional turnip cake
2. Phyllis Lo putting turnip into steamer
3. Lo putting dish of turnip cake on table
4. Lo cutting turnip cake
5. SOUNDBITE (Cantonese) Phyllis Lo, who lost her mother in Wang Fuk Court fire:
++STARTS IN SHOT 1, PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 2-4++
"Every year, my mum would make this turnip cake, but this year, it’s the first time at new year that my mum is not here. So, if mum is not here, we can do a commemoration for her, we can, we’ve got good lives, so this is like, represents her last wish, what she always wanted for us, we’ve got, a good life, to eat well, live well, that’s what she would have wanted."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong - 26 November 2025
6. Various of fire blazing at apartment blocks of Wang Fuk Court, in the Tai Po suburb of Hong Kong

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong - 2 February 2026
7. SOUNDBITE (Cantonese) Pearl Chow, grandmother of Dorz Cheung, who both lost their home in Wang Fuk Court fire:
++STARTS IN PREVIOUS SHOT++
“I think a lot of people want it to be quicker, to get a permanent place to live, but we still don’t know what the government is going to arrange for us.”
8. SOUNDBITE (Cantonese) Dorz Cheung, grandson of Pear Chow, they both lost their home in Wang Fuk Court fire:
++PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 9-10++
“Really, it doesn’t have to be a lot of money, just hurry up to give us a reasonable home, or a timeframe, we need for a plan, it’s not that you have to tell us right now, but a time frame, Stage one, Stage two, you can let us know how you are going to sort it out for us, 1,800 households. Now all we can do is wait.”
9. Dorz and his grandmother, Pearl Chow, in her kitchen

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong - 27 November 2025
10. Fires burning inside damaged apartments
11. Fires inside apartments and smoke pouring out
12. Fire Services Department operating aerial ladders with hoses spraying water on still smoking apartment blocks
STORYLINE:
The deadliest fire in Hong Kong in decades last year (2025) left thousands of residents without some of their friends, family or the place they called home.

More than two months later, the occupants of the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex are not only waiting for answers about what happened, but longing for a new place to live.

Authorities are yet to unveil plans for long-term resettlement after surveying the residents' preferences.

The Lunar New Year on February 17, meanwhile, is stirring recent memories of celebrating the festival in what is now a largely burnt complex.

The massive blaze that engulfed seven apartment buildings killed 168 people on November 26, 2025, shattering a close-knit community.

Authorities blamed substandard scaffolding netting and foam boards from the buildings maintenance project for rapidly spreading the fire.

Although some arrests were made, an independent committee is still investigating the cause.

The Associated Press talked to four families who lived in the complex or lost their loved ones there.

Phyllis Lo’s mother called her after seeing thick smoke outside her door when the blaze started.

On the call, knowing she might not survive, her 74-year-old mother asked Lo, 48, and her brother to live well.

Lo immediately rushed to her childhood home and called again minutes later.

No one answered. The next morning, police told her they found her mother's body.



As the Lunar New Year neared, Lo made turnip cakes - a tradition she inherited from her mother.







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