SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
At least 128 people are dead after a massive fire tore through a high-rise housing complex in Hong Kong. More than a hundred people are still missing, and officials warn more bodies may be found as recovery workers do a thorough search of the buildings. Reporter Sherisse Pham joins us from Hong Kong. Sherisse, thank you for being with us.
SHERISSE PHAM: Thank you, Scott.
SIMON: This is just a devastating story, of course. What can you tell us about what's happening today?
PHAM: Today, this city is in mourning. Rescue efforts officially ended yesterday, an acknowledgment that it's unlikely that any more survivors will be found. Government officials held a moment of silence this morning. Official events and celebrations have been canceled, and flags across the city are flying at half-mast this weekend.
SIMON: This was just an enormous fire. Can you help us understand how many people have been affected in addition to those who were killed?
PHAM: Yeah, that's right. The fire broke out in a big public housing complex called Wang Fuk Court. It's in a northeast suburb of Hong Kong, Taipo. The complex is home to about 4,600 people living across eight buildings, each more than 30 stories high. The fire tore through all but one of those buildings. And many of the survivors are elderly. Some of the people I talked to earlier this week had lived there since it was built in the early 1980s. Two of the hardest-hit buildings were burned so badly, they're just charred black. So we're looking at likely thousands of survivors who are now effectively homeless.
SIMON: I gather officials are talking more about how and why the fire spread so quickly. What can you tell us about that?
PHAM: Well, the housing complex had been under renovation. And the buildings were covered in bamboo scaffolding and protective mesh netting. And at first, officials suspected that the netting was not up to standard, but now they say it did meet fire resistance standards. So the focus now are on these Styrofoam boards that were used to protect the building's windows during renovation. The fire department said they tested those boards and found that they were highly flammable.
They say, as the boards caught fire, the high temperatures caused the windows to shatter. And this allowed the fire to move into the buildings and apartments. So you can imagine the fires moving up through the Styrofoam boards and into the buildings through the shattered windows. And officials say that's how it spread so quickly. The fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon. Within hours, it was labeled a Level 5 alarm fire, the city's highest, and it burned for nearly two days. It wasn't fully extinguished until Friday morning. And the fire department chief said that the fire alarms were also not working properly.
SIMON: Sherisse, what is ahead next for survivors and for Hong Kong?
PHAM: Well, for now, officials are turning their focus to the people involved in the renovation of this housing complex. Police arrested three people from a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter on Thursday, and a corruption probe has led to the arrest of eight other people involved in the renovations on Friday. And, of course, like you said, the attention is on helping people affected by the fire. I've seen the heart of this city out in full force these last days. A lot of people just want to help in any way that they can.
One local physiotherapist, Angela Leung, had been going to the temporary shelters set up by the government. She was offering acupuncture and cupping to survivors and handing out pain patches and Tiger Balm. Tiger Balm is this ointment for pain relief that's widely used here in Hong Kong. 'Cause a lot of the older folks are just finding it hard to sleep on mattresses on the shelters floors because they have knee and joint pain. We also have, of course, the Hong Kong Red Cross and other emergency relief organizations providing basics, like pillows and phone chargers and soap and diapers, because many of these survivors, Scott, have lost everything.
SIMON: Reporter Sherisse Pham in Hong Kong. Thank you so much.
PHAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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