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SCMP Reporter

AS elderly Sau Mau Ping residents yesterday commemorated the death of 100 neighbours killed in a landslide 22 years ago, many younger people said they had not heard of the tragedy.

  Hundreds of people carrying joss sticks, paper money, chickens and roasted pigs yesterday flocked to Sau Mau Ping Memorial Park in commemoration of the landslide on June 18, 1972.

  At noon that Sunday, a large slope behind the resettlement estates collapsed after a series of monsoon storms, burying thousands of squatter huts and scores of people.

  ''We all remember the disaster and we hope the Government will not forget but work hard on anti-flooding and landslide measures,'' said Cheung Wai-lung of the Luk Hing Benevolent Society, a charity Buddhist group which has organised the annual service for 22 years.

  Buddhists and Taoists performed a traditional ritual in the ceremonies which they said would help the victims ''sleep well''.

  Worshipper Chan Ching, 67, yesterday recalled how he helped rescue two victims in the landslide.

  Mr Chan said he was living in block 22 of the Kwun Tong seven-storey resettlement estate in 1972 and was having lunch when the incident occurred.

  ''I heard the screams and went out to find that the whole hill had moved. Like other residents, I rushed to the landslide area to see what had happened,'' he said.

  ''I saw a woman and her son trapped in the mud so I pulled them out. They suffered injuries to their back and legs. They were lucky. Many residents did not survive the disaster.''   Mr Chan said it was the most tragic moment of his life and he would never forget it.

  But young people living or studying in Kwun Tong did not think the same.

  Chiu Chi-ho, 23, of Sau Mau Ping Estate, yesterday walked through the memorial park without stopping to look at the ceremonies.

  ''My parents told me about the tragedy when I was small. But I did not quite understand it. Anyway it is not my business. It is only history,'' he said.

  Fifth formers Lam Hung-shing and Lam Tak-cheung said they heard of the landslide only because of ghost stories circulating in school about missing bodies trapped underground.



Ceremonies for landslide dead show up age gap