Editorial | Settle Hong Kong slope disputes for the sake of safety
Climate change has increased the risks of landslides in city and this is no time to argue about maintenance work
Hong Kong had averaged about 300 landslides a year for decades until 2023 when, according to the ombudsman, the number leapt to more than 600. Thankfully, none resulted in deaths that would have added to the toll of up to 470 in the 50 years following the end of the second world war.
That is in large part due to the world-leading efforts of successive governments to improve urban planning and slope maintenance, and develop an early warning system to alert residents to the risk of rainfall-induced landslides.
These measures have made a huge difference to overall slope safety compared with the worst years of the 1960s and 1970s. But there is no room for complacency.
It is worrying, therefore, that Ombudsman Jack Chan Jick-chi said a “considerable number” of slope-repair orders issued to private owners had been “long outstanding” – not complied with. This has to be a worry at any time, even in normal conditions without the added risk element of climate change.
“As extreme weather has become more frequent, coupled with gradual slope degradation, landslide risks still exist,” Chan said. Indeed, scientists have warned that Hong Kong faces increasingly intense rainfall owing to climate change that is likely to result in more landslides across the world.
