as a hong konger i feel the need to speak out and give a local’s perspective on the fire that has ravaged tai po’s wang fuk court because there’s so much disinformation and western gazed reports regarding it.
a quick background to the incident: a fire broke out in the housing estate of wang fuk court and caused the burning of 7/8 blocks in the estate. so far a total of 128 deaths have been reported with around 200 more missing and 79 injured. the fire burned for a total of 43 hours. the housing estate was undergoing a renovation project that cost 330 million HKD (around 42mil USD) when the construction material of one block caught on fire and subsequently spread to the rest of the buildings. around 4.6k people live there and majority of them are elderly.
a lot of the media is blaming the bamboo scaffolding for the cause of the fire’s spread. that is not true and is a distraction from the actual problem of corruption that caused this avoidable tragedy.
for starters, bamboo scaffolding is a centuries old practice that is a recognized cultural heritage in hong kong. everything in hk, including the iconic skyline, was built using bamboo scaffolding. centuries of cantonese opera shows hosted in bamboo theatres had hot food stalls with no issues of burning. it is not because it’s cheaper or from an inflated sense of nostalgia but a factual thing you can easily confirm by looking up any heat test with bamboo. but the most obvious proof you can find is that the site itself shows the scaffolding mostly in-tact while the safety net is almost completely gone.
rather conveniently as well is that construction sites across hk the day after have begun removing the safety nets. i know of people working in construction who can corroborate as well.
as always, the incentive for such corner cutting is money. fire-retardant nets cost 6-10 times more than regular nets. among this was the use of styrofoam boards as opposed to metal for blocking out the windows within the construction site, which as another factor in aiding the spread of the fire.
this renovation project was the most expensive out of the 3 proposed for the estate. it was majority paid by the residents, with each tenant required to pay 160k for the project. i would also like to add that as wang fuk court is a part of the home ownership scheme, they are owned by the housing authority, which is an agency of the hong kong government.
330 million in funds yet they could not even afford the bare minimum of fire proof materials? their greed and corruption is what turned the housing estate into a death trap for the thousands living there, NOT the bamboo scaffolding.
another tragic (and suspicious) factor in the deadliness of this incident is that the fire alarm system for all 8 buildings failed to sound, which likely caused the deaths of many more as most people reported not even knowing there was a fire until either the smoke reached them or they could see the flames.
the government’s response to this has been to immediately roll out policies to switch to steel scaffolding as opposed to addressing the real issue of corruption involved. likely because of the election coming up next week (which has still not yet been cancelled despite the tragedy) where there are candidates directly involved or connected with district councilors that allowed this to happen by denying and shutting down resident’s concerns. people are also concerned that this is just another method of streamlining the process of outsourcing labor from mainland, as their standard is using steel scaffolding and their labor is far cheaper. this would also allow the mainland industry of providing steel scaffoldings to break into hk.
majority of the relief effort has been funded by or provided the citizens of hk themselves. volunteers have poured in from across hk as well as the bordering shenzhen to help deliver supplies for displaced residents. if there is one feel good thing to take away from this incident is that we fucking care about each other, far more than this shit ass government. the initial relief funds offered by the government was a mere 10k per family, just plain disrespectful when they’ve lost their everything. (as of right now it has been raised to 50k, likely due to backlash but it still does not compensate even the amount that they’ve paid for the renovations that took their home)
i mostly wrote this post as a half rant and half psa to let people know from a hkgers pov the blatant display of greed and negligence that allowed for something like this to happen. this is not a tragic accident but a situation so preventable that all the people involved should all be charged with murder. this is the deadliest disaster hk has faced in the last 70 years, and the death toll is only expected to rise as the fire brigade actually starts breaking into flats individually.
hk is very small so most people, myself included either know or know of someone directly affected by the tragedy. about 50% of hkgers, again myself included, also live in these types of housing estates. i’m deeply disturbed and appalled at the implications and would like more people to know how complicit our government is in this incident.
a correction and addendum to this
i severely miswrote the amount the residents had to pay. it was $160k-180k and not $16k. the post has been edited.
suddenly realized i haven’t seen a single tumblr post about yesterday’s ECJ ruling (that all EU countries must recognize same-sex marriages conducted in another EU country, even if the country in question does not have legal same-sex marriage). this is huge and feels like people on here would be more enthusiastic about it
This makes my friend’s marriage legal and I’m really very happy about it for her & her wonderful wife! The Czech Republic has civil unions but not gay marriage, so they went to a different EU country to get married. :] I think the Czech Republic already did recognize the marriage but it’s nice to have outside backup.
shade very Soft and Comfort human sleep soundly put human under Manchineel Tree. Put Human Under Manchineel Tree. no problems ever under mancchineel tree because good Taste and Sweet fruit for tired hungry human. Amanchineel Tree yes a place for a human put human under manchineel tree can trust manchineel for giveing good shelter to human. friend manchineel
I just want to remind everyone how affordable buying food from indigenous tribes is. I live in a major city and I was able to purchase and ship (15) pounds of fish from back home to myself for cheaper than I could buy it from a grocery store here in the city. Yeah, shipping has its own environmental factors but I was able to support an indigenous owned business while also getting my groceries at a lesser cost. (Buying in bulk is always a good idea if you’re planning on having something shipped to you)
Honor the Earth is an organization founded by Winona Duke of the White Earth Nation (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe) with Amy Ray and Emily Saliers (LGBTQ musical duo Indigo Girls and long-time political activists.) You can buy Honor The Earth merch online to support the environmental work they do, specifically to help protest Enbridge Oil’s Line 3 Pipeline routed through tribal lands that endangers wild rice beds which are both a staple crop and sacred to Anishinaabeg.
However, Winona also heads up a hemp farm called Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm located on and run primarily by members of the White Earth Nation. It seeks to general local wealth for the tribe by encouraging the production of hemp as a fast-growing renewable and regenerative crop resource to be used for everything from non-plastic textiles/clothing, housing construction and insulation, food products, and CBD products! (They also grow other crops there such as heirloom varieties of corn, beans, squash, Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, and ceremonial tobacco in an effort to help re-establish and increase tribal food sovereignty!)
They have both a brick-and-mortar shop called The Hemp Market Store and Coffee Shop in Osage MN where they sell their products and others by Indigenous-owned & -run companies! (They also sell those seasonal tribal heirloom crops there including Lakota squash and Ojibwe purple potatoes.)
But you can also buy many of their products online including hemp-fiber clothing, hemp tea, and hemp pasta. They also partnered with an experienced tribal herbalist to formulate CBD medicinal products like balms and oils (haven’t used it myself, but I the CBD balm for my mom for Christmas a few years back and she said it helped her chronic hip pain a lot.)
compiling some additional info from other reblogs + fixing some broken links
it looks like some shops’ products are seasonal and arent avaliable at this time of year (november 2023), but it may be at a different season
new or fixed links in green with ✳️ emoji inactive/closed website in red with ⛔️ emoji
Grocers: from salamanderinspace’s reblog of product list
✳️Indigenous First(recommended by pingnova) –> Handmade crafts/art, Foods & Teas, Personal care, Decor, Seeds, Books, Jewelry supplies
✳️SweetGrass Trading Company (Winnebago, recommended by watcherscrown) –> Handmade crafts/art, Foods (of note: Salmon), Coffee & teas, Personal care, Books (website features recipes)
Canadian officials are warning the public not to consume recalled ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula because it may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum tied to infant illnesses in the U.S.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says the affected products may be unsafe because of the potential presence of the dangerous bacteria.
State officials in Oregon, Minnesota and Arizona say they’re still finding the recalled product on store shelves in the U.S. following a Nov. 11 recall that was updated Wednesday.
More than 30 babies in the U.S. have been sickened, federal health officials in the U.S. said.
This recall was published and last updated November 21, 2025.
Symptoms can take up to 30 days to develop and include constipation, poor feeding, a weak cry, drooping eyelids or a flat facial expression. Babies can develop weakness in their limbs and their head and may feel “floppy.” They can have trouble swallowing or breathing.
and,
They are advising consumers to stop using the product — including formula in cans and any single-serve sticks. They also suggest marking it “DO NOT USE” and keeping it for at least a month in case a baby develops symptoms. In that case, the formula would need to be tested.
it’s also worth noting that ByHeart has recalled ALL of their products as of Nov. 11th, so there is no info on what batches/use-by/numbers - it is just all of them. if you’ve used any in the last month, contact your family doctor or healthcare provider if you’re worried.
