Notes » February 2010

Risky Rent

So what caused the collapse of the residential building in Hung Hom?

Engineers believe the most likely cause was illegal interior renovations that removed or weakened structural walls or support columns. The buildings along Ma Tau Wai Road are some of the oldest in Hong Kong and many have been illegally renovated.

Because registered engineers aren't hired to supervise interior subdivisions (partitioning a flat into separate rooms), nor is the Building Department consulted, untrained workers make substantial changes without considering changes in the load factor.

In fact, about 15 minutes before the 55-year-old building failed, five or six workers who had been renovating a ground-floor shop bolted outside and yelled for people to stay away and call the police. Not long after, the building pancaked from the ground up.

In short, a lot of older structures are disasters waiting to happen, yet some Hong Kongers have no choice but to live in them.

One lady escaped death by mere moments:

Chan, who lived on the third floor with her husband … and her parents-in-law, said her flat's entire wall had tilted, throwing open all the doors in the unit.

Then she received a call from her nearby property agent, who had heard shouting on the street, telling her the building was going to fall. She grabbed her young baby and scrambled out … banging on the door of a flat where she knew a prostitute worked. [...]

The prostitute followed her down the stairs, but when she reached the bottom, there was a huge bang as the building began to collapse. "I froze, but the owner of the CD shop next door grabbed me and pulled me into the store," said Chan. "He saved my life, but I never saw the prostitute again."

Another person wasn't so lucky:

Tobias Tong, 20, was studying for an associate degree programme in his second-floor cubicle flat when the five-storey ... collapsed and took his life.

[...]

A neighbour who lived in the flat opposite Tong's, Fan Fung-ting, lamented his death and described him as good-looking, modest, polite and diligent. "I am 89 years old already and will die soon," he said. "I feel very sad about the death of the young man. He was a good boy. He had a promising life ahead."

And the rent in such a building? HK$3,000 per month (about US$385).

Think about that before being lured by the prospect of a less expensive place to live.

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