Dominic Ho

Hi, I am Dominic

[Kevin Yam 任建峰 @kevinkfyam]

The national security crackdown surrounding the Tai Po fire goes beyond just arresting individuals. Things have now moved on to the making of veiled threats.

A group of experienced Hong Kong legal, town planning, social work and public policy professionals had organised a press conference for this afternoon Hong Kong time to discuss issues arising from the Tai Po fire. But it had to be cancelled after National Security Police asked to see one of the attendees.

[Galileo Cheng @galileocheng]

Miles Kwan, a fifth-year student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), was arrested for alleged sedition by national security police on Saturday.

His close friends shared a poignant memory of him with me.

[V神王@8964 @Wong666V]

左媒轉移唔到香港人視線，割安惟有「造案」，讓香港人去分出視線，令香港人更痛苦悲傷！😡

[Antony Dapiran @antd]

This type of community mobilization drove the 2019 protest movement. No surprise authorities quickly shut it down here, despite the charitable purposes. In China, any kind of organizing outside official government auspices is seen as subversive.

[Frances Hui 許穎婷 @frances_hui]

The arrest of the student who launched a petition over the deadly Tai Po fire shows how little free speech #HongKong really has. The CCP tolerates mourning, but anyone who dares to seek accountability or hold criticism is treated as a "national security" threat and crushed.

[Scott｜Monsterblockhk @0xScottlai]

作為一個土生土長的香港人，我可以說今晚這場大火絕對是人禍

現場是大埔宏福苑，整個屋苑有 8 座大廈。今天下午約 2:51，宏福苑的宏昌閣外牆正在進行維修時，外牆棚架發生火警，已經有網民在 Threads 拍下當時小火的情況，可是在十分鐘後火警已經往上順延

問題一：有住戶表示火警發生時火警鐘未能響起，濃煙突然湧入，多人來不及逃出

問題二：多名網民和住戶在 Threads 已貼出疑似現場其中一座大廈的維修棚架中，有工人吸煙和亂拋煙頭的照片和影片，雖然不能證實是今天發生的，但已經有人認為這是最大機���引發火警的原因，畢竟居民���經多次提醒工友不要再吸煙

問題三：維修背景

這個絕對要講，為什麼是人禍？

在 2024 年年初，宏福苑的屋苑法團通過一項總額約 3.3 億港元的大維修方案，用於整個外牆更新

方案覆蓋 8 座大廈約 1984 戶住戶，每戶需分 6 期繳費，每戶需負擔約 16–18 萬港元，這裡已經很離譜，因為基本上是強迫每戶付錢出來，更別說這次為了節省成本而直接 8 座大廈同時進行維修，增加風險

當時法團拒絕重選並以法律手段回應部分業主，而維修工程當然直接開始，整個屋苑被搭上竹棚架和保護網

但其實，保護網沒有用上最新政府標準所要求的防火網，而是普通的阻燃物料，我附上���第 2 張圖片可以清楚看到，所謂阻燃也沒有成功起到作用，反而棚架比保護網更堅固，證明問題出在【沒有用上防火網】

重點也來了，因為宏福苑是一個私人屋苑，所以不會由政府直接管理，而是由立案法團委聘承建商，也就是私人工程公司

私人工程不需要跟足政府標準，比如說公營工程防火規範，所以他們用的竹棚和普通阻燃圍網，的確是合法，但前面我也提到這是十分高風險

再加上工人吸煙讓火種掉落，近年政府大量引入外勞，也沒有說有什麼條例去監管和控制外勞，那如果這次工程的工人也是外勞呢？

香港工程一判再判早已是常態，為了壓低成本，最底層工人往往薪金最低和培訓不足，監管亦有限，這當然是制度問題，而不是工人本身的問題

所以這不是單一意外

而是由成本導向的維修決策和鬆散監管制度，也因為欠缺防火網和安全文化薄弱，一層一層累積而成的人禍，最後導致今天大家看到的五級大火爆發

當然，這一切未有官方最終調查結論，還需要等待政府公布原因，但在這個世界裡面，有多少出來的資料是真假，大家可以想像到

[Kevin Yam 任建峰 @kevinkfyam]

Yahoo Financial News reports that Hong Kong experts’ opinions about bamboo scaffolding being safe are being ignored by PRC netizens as the Hong Kong Government seeks to ram through mandated use of metal scaffolding. Unsurprisingly enough, this has coincided with a record glut in the PRC metal scaffolding materials market, amidst multiple scandals over fake steel being used in making scaffolding materials.

Article link: https://t.co/FRA7spa3Tv

[Chung Ching Kwong 鄺頌晴 @chungchingkwong]

.@adamwithnall's piece does something deeply irresponsible: it takes a tragedy and uses it to push a simplistic conclusion--“the bamboo has to go” without evidence, without understanding HK’s construction practice, and with a clear cultural bias. It is Orientalism.

Anyone who has watched even one video knows the white plastic/fabric netting ignited first. It is highly flammable. It burns fast and drips fire.
The bamboo, by contrast, is still standing on multiple blocks even after the blaze. If bamboo were the problem, it would have collapsed.
Claiming bamboo “spread the fire” is simply false.

Bamboo isn’t a quaint “quirky throwback.”
It is a highly skilled, engineered system honed across decades, one that works specifically well because Hong Kong’s dense, humid, high-rise environment. If bamboo scaffolding were as unsafe as the article implies, Hong Kong would have had constant large-scale fires. We haven’t. This was the first Level 5 fire in 17 years.

Blaming bamboo because it “looks traditional” is lazy and prejudiced reporting.

Calling bamboo “quirky,” a “throwback,” and suggesting that Hongkongers should fear the sight of scaffolding the next morning is pure Orientalism. This is a textbook Western lens:
Western methods = modern, safe
Local methods = outdated, dangerous
Hong Kong uses bamboo because it works, not because the city is nostalgic or backward.

[Hong Kong Free Press HKFP @hkfp]

Police officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit (DVIU), dressed in white, arrived at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Friday afternoon, after at least 128 people were killed in what has become Hong Kong's deadliest blaze in decades.

At around 5pm, DVIU officers followed firefighters and prepared to enter Wang Cheong House, where authorities believed the fire initially started on Wednesday, and where casualties were concentrated.

Security chief Chris Tang told reporters that around 200 people were still missing and he did not rule out the possibility of more bodies being discovered after police officers enter the buildings to investigate.

In full: https://t.co/lX1w8wx2XK

Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

[The Great Translation Movement 大翻译运动 @TGTM_Official]

These videos surprised a lot of people: bamboo does burn, but not the way social media describes it.
It doesn’t explode. It doesn’t melt. It chars slowly — similar to timber — and sometimes even stays standing.

So maybe the question isn’t:
‘Why is HK still using bamboo?’
But:
‘Why don’t we separate the performance of bamboo from the failures of safety around it?

Engineers, builders, HK folks — what do you think after seeing the videos?

[Finn Lau 劉祖廸 @finnlau_cd]

1/ I don’t often speak in my professional capacity as a Hong Kong–born, UK-chartered construction professional (MRICS, MAPM, NECReg, among others). But I need to address inaccurate reporting about bamboo scaffolding in the Hong Kong Tai Po fire.

(1/9)

[Dominic Ho @DominicHo17]

今天在一家日式餐廳享用了一頓超棒的午餐！
這套餐有炒苦瓜配豆腐和雞蛋，搭配一碗熱騰騰的味噌湯，還有白飯和一些小份的漬物，真的超滿足！
特別喜歡那杯冰涼的啤酒，完美搭配這一餐～

#日式料理 #定食 #午餐 #美食分享 #日本風味

[Dominic Ho @DominicHo17]

當夕陽的餘暉與新年的希望交織，愿你的每一個夜晚都如這般美麗。

[Dominic Ho @DominicHo17]

生日，海邊

[Dominic Ho @DominicHo17]

生日飯