Tenants told to evacuate as cracks reappear
More than 100 Shekkipmei residents were shocked yesterday when they were told suddenly they would have to move after cracks in four public housing blocks were found to have widened.
Housing Department director of business management Lee King-chi said there was no immediate danger despite the hasty notice. But the 124 tenants, mostly elderly, in the 45-year-old flats were worried about the risk, said community worker Ko Ming-hui, of the SKH Kei Oi Tai Hang Tung Community Development Centre.
Cracks as large as three metres long and three centimetres wide could be seen on the floor and walls in corridors in Tung Wing, Tung Fu, Tung Wan and Tung Wo houses in Tai Hang Tung Estate. They were first discovered last year and repaired, but then opened again.
'We have been monitoring the situation and found signs of widening in some of the cracks in the four blocks despite the temporary support structures we built last year. We're sorry that 93 families need to move out within three weeks so structural strengthening work can begin immediately,' said Mr Lee.
He said the cracks had resulted from ageing.
Ms Ko said residents were upset and unwilling to move because they were attached to the estate and its community.
The department last year said the cracks were not dangerous and promised to let residents stay until the completion of two adjacent blocks in early 2003.
The demolition of the old blocks was delayed to next year as most tenants refused temporary rehousing in Shamshuipo and other areas for fear they would not be allowed back.
But the Housing Department said yesterday there was no choice and that residents would get only one reallocation allowance.
Wan Leung-hing, 61, said he hoped to leave as soon as possible as the cracks at the entrance of his flat were getting worse. But the department had still not completed his case. Lam Ngok-hing, 67, said she would not move unless the department promised to give her a second allowance when she moved back.
