Editorial | Hong Kong’s slope safety monitoring must keep pace with climate change
While the risk of casualties from slope failure has not been high, the city mustn’t be complacent amid reports of repeated landslides
The Office of the Ombudsman released a report on January 8, based on its review of nine serious landslides at man-made slopes since 2008. Four incidents happened along Wing Lung Road in the New Territories over the past five years, despite the area being on an official monitoring list.
Ombudsman Jack Chan Jick-chi’s office focused on landslide prevention work and management of man-made slopes maintained by the authorities. Even when emergency work was carried out after a first incident, “potential landslide risks” were “not necessarily” fully mitigated. Most slopes with repeated landslides were either not included in a specific monitoring programme or considered relatively low priority. The report also said some sites had “repeated landslides” within three years of an initial incident. A spokesman for the ombudsman’s office said recurrences raised concerns about the “potential risks and structural safety of these slopes”.
Global warming has fuelled increasingly unpredictable and ferocious rainstorms which have set records for precipitation and duration. Slope registration, monitoring systems and stabilisation works must evolve quickly to stay ahead of evolving weather patterns.
While landslides in recent years have not involved major casualties, there must not be complacency among site managers. It is a good start that relevant government departments have already accepted the Ombudsman’s 32 recommendations. In a city where more than 60 per cent of the land has natural hillsides, there is precious little margin for error.