Over 500 civil servants were deployed to assist the post-rainstorm clean-up in September, when the government made its first-ever “extreme conditions” announcement amid widespread flooding and landslides brought on by torrential rain, the security minister has said.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang told lawmakers on Wednesday that the government mobilised some 510 civil servants from 13 bureaus and departments – including 20 law enforcement officers from the Independent Commission Against Corruption – to help clear roads, homes and school premises affected by the record-breaking downpour in early September.
They also offered help to individuals who faced financial hardship because of the incident to apply for relief funds.
The deployment was part of a civil service mobilisation protocol, Tang said, which the government revamped last December. The overhaul included the addition of a “government-wide mobilisation” alert level, which empowered the authorities to set up a command system, a rostering system and a mobilisation mechanism for handling emergencies.
Around 300 members and volunteers of the community care teams in Tsuen Wan and Southern District were also mobilised to help out in temporary shelters and for other follow-up actions, the security chief said.
Other newly-established care teams in the remaining 16 districts in the city would be mobilised to serve those in need “in times of inclement weather,” Tang wrote in Chinese.
In a written response to legislator Benson Luk’s questions on the government’s mechanism for making an “extreme conditions” announcement, Tang said the chief secretary for administration would lead a steering committee consisting of principal officials in the event of super typhoons or other natural disasters.
An “extreme conditions” announcement may be made if the city experiences large-scale power outages, extensive flooding, major landslides or serious disruption of public transport services, Tang wrote.
If the resumption of work was severely affected in the aftermath of a typhoon, the government can also make such an announcement to advise members of the public to remain in a safe place instead of going to work.
According to guidelines issued by the Labour Department, only essential workers who agreed to be on duty at workplaces when “extreme conditions” existed should report for duty. Other workers should remain in a safe place.
Employers should be “sympathetic and flexible” in making post-typhoon work arrangements, with prime consideration being given to staff safety, the department said in September.
Lawmaker Luk also asked if the government had formulated a mechanism to disseminate alerts about natural disasters to the public through the HK$150 million Emergency Alert System launched in November 2020.
The emergency alert on phones – with a loud audio alarm and vibration lasting for around 10 seconds – shocked Hongkongers in March last year. The government activated the system for the first time to inform the public about turning a public hospital into a Covid-19 facility amid the fifth wave of infections.
Tang said on Wednesday that the system had two levels of emergency messages, and bureaus and departments would seek approval from the chief secretary, the city’s No.2 official, to send the alert under “truly justified emergency situations.”
In a separate written reply to lawmaker Starry Lee’s questions on the city’s flood prevention capacity, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn said on Wednesday that the government would prioritise drainage improvement projects for areas with a higher flooding risk, such as the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, Wong Tai Sin District and other low-lying areas.
She added the Drainage Services Department had updated its Stormwater Drainage Manual in August last year based on the sixth assessment report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2021.
“Climate change is a global problem faced by the world. Hong Kong must also adopt a forward-looking strategy to actively respond to this challenge,” she said.
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