Tai Po fire: public accountability needed to honour those who died
Por Alice Wu — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire tragedy Opinion Hong Kong Opinion
Opinion Alice Wu Tai Po fire: public accountability needed to honour those who died
If the government suppresses the independent committee’s findings on the fire over privacy concerns, it will convince no one of its commitment to accountability
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Alice Wu Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA. Published: 9:30am, 19 Oct 2026 While celebrating the Chung Yeung Festival , we are reminded of the harvest, family reunions and the need to pay our respects to those who have departed. Spooky season is upon us, too, and Halloween is about more than just trick-or-treating. It also reminds us of the autumn harvests and those who have recently passed. The victims of the Tai Po fire – the city’s worst disaster in recent memory – are very much on our minds. The 168 lives lost and the homes ravaged as buildings burned for more than 44 hours last November shook Hong Kong to its core. The city showed a sense of community we haven’t seen in a long time.
We also learned just how far our systems have fallen short in protecting Hongkongers’ lives and property. Even in the early days after the blaze, questions were raised over how the overlapping systems designed to avert disasters like the Wang Fuk Court inferno had failed.
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