Angry tenants say camp poses health risk
Some residents who were sent to Chai Wan have been moved again after staging a sit-in
Some of the Amoy Gardens residents who were moved from their quarantined apartments to holiday camps because of the atypical pneumonia outbreak were moved again yesterday, because they complained the lack of facilities at one of the camps posed a health hazard.
Two more camps were opened after more than 20 evacuees staged an overnight sit-in at the gate of Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village in Chai Wan - one of the original two designated quarantine camps - and refused to move in. They cited fears that the living conditions represented a health risk.
The protesting residents were among the 239 tenants of Amoy Gardens' Block E, which the government ordered isolated for 10 days from Monday following a massive outbreak of atypical pneumonia in the building.
The government decided to move the residents to two quarantine camps on Tuesday night to allow health officials to thoroughly investigate their homes and other building facilities.
The removal operation was delayed for three hours on Tuesday night when some residents refused to move.
They were persuaded to move out by social workers, psychologists and police and the removal was completed at around 3am.
It had been arranged that 44 households would live in the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village in Sai Kung and another 72 households were to be moved to the Chai Wan camp.
But some of residents staged a sit-in when they arrived at Chai Wan after they discovered that some households would have to share toilets.
'There are only two toilets for every three rooms,' one disgruntled resident said.
'The health chief [Yeoh Eng-kiong] has said it [the sewerage system] might lead to infections and you ask us to share the use of toilets?'
The government later decided to open two more quarantine camps - Tso Kung Tam Outdoor Recreation Centre in Tsuen Wan and Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre - providing an extra 55 places for the residents.
A government spokesman said they understood the residents' frustration and officials would try to make their temporary stay at the holiday camps as pleasant as possible. Fifteen households from the Chai Wan camp moved to the Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre yesterday evening.
But their arrival prompted a protest by a group of about 30 Sai Kung residents who expressed worries that the Amoy residents would spread the virus in their community.
One of the Amoy residents, a Mr Yip, called on people not to discriminate against them. 'We are not thieves. We have fulfilled our responsibilities as citizens. But people just want to keep away from us. I feel saddened,' Mr Yip said.
Disgruntled evacuees at the Chai Wan camp last night met with health and welfare officers who promised improvements in conditions from tomorrow.
