NY Post: First images from inside fire-ravaged Hong Kong high rise as death toll rises to 146

A big fire at an apartment building in Hong Kong won’t get much coverage in the US, but it seemed strange to me because everything is built of concrete in Hong Kong.  Apparently it was the scaffolding.

Ten years ago, I took this photo of construction at the Hong Kong university where we worked.  Bamboo poles are lashed together.  On top of the scaffold, a blue tarp is spread for workers to walk around on.  They step on the bamboo poles to not fall through the cracks.

This photo is of work being done above a long walkway, so they are twenty or thirty feet up.  They used the same bamboo scaffold setup when they did exterior work where they are fifty or sixty feet high.  Apparently, high rise apartment buildings work the same way.

I get why some Americans might think that because this tragedy happened in China, it’s none of our business.  In fact, I agree with this guy.

Hong Kong isn’t China.  Not yet.  When I was there, Hong Kong was more like a big, Western capitalist city where most people spoke Mandarin or Cantonese.  College students spoke English, as did the managerial class. 

Ten years ago, when China really started to get it’s shit-hooks into Hong Kong, I stopped going back. 

It’s interesting how the authorities responded.

Three men — the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company — were arrested the day after the fire broke out on suspicion of manslaughter, and police said company leaders were suspected of gross negligence.

Those three were released on bail but then rearrested by Hong Kong’s anti-corruption authorities, who have also arrested a further eight suspects including scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consulting company and the renovation project managers.

Apparently tarps and nets on the bamboo scaffolding caught fire, and that spread to foam panels that were placed over windows to protect them during the renovation.