Hong Kong people warned they may be ill-prepared if disaster strikes

Hong Kong people have become too complacent about a major disaster hitting the city and would be ill-prepared if catastrophe did strike.

This was the key message that emerged from a three-day conference looking at the city's preparedness and response in the event of a major disaster.

"The dialogue coming out from the discussions is that increasingly, communities need to be more engaged because a lot of times people depend on the government and rescue forces," said Kevin Hung Kei-ching, director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute, which coorganised the conference.

"The risk is rare but in big events, often people in Hong Kong are really not prepared because it's not like in Japan where they might be better informed about earthquake risk."

He listed landslides, tsunamis, outbreaks of infectious diseases and fires as the types of major disasters that could hit Hong Kong.

At the conference, which wraps up today, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said the city must "recognise that a government-centric approach to emergency management is not enough to meet the challenges posed by catastrophic incidents".