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A government spokesman said that as at noon today (January 14), the Immigration Department's hotline (2829 3010) had received 877 enquiries and 1,420 requests for assistance.
Meanwhile, there were 49 cases in which the callers were able to provide the personal particulars of the residents concerned as well as some information about their last known locations. Among them, 32 were reported to be in Thailand, three in Indonesia, one in Malaysia, and 13 in other places.
In addition, there were 73 Hong Kong residents whose family members had not provided the personal particulars or specific information on the last known locations of these residents. The Immigration Department is liaising with the caller in each of these cases to gather the required information for immediate follow-up actions.
A total of 11 Hong Kong residents were confirmed to have died. As of today, a girl is still hospitalised in Thailand.
The multi-disciplinary support team from the HKSAR Government will continue to provide essential services to Hong Kong residents requiring assistance in Thailand. The deployment of the support team in Thailand would continue to be adjusted in the light of the latest situation. As the situation in Phuket has stabilised and in the light of falling demand for the service, the help desk in the Phuket International Airport will operate until 11pm tomorrow (January 15) and cease operation thereafter.
The help desk set up in the Bangkok International Airport will continue to be manned at busy hours for the time being. Three round-the-clock telephone hotline services will continue. The hotlines are: 096471215 and 096471208 (for calling from Thailand) or Hong Kong number (852) 9038 6578.
Local Hong Kong residents may call the Immigration Department's hotline at 2829 3010 for assistance.
On the DNA database set up by the Thai authorities to help verify the identity of victims in the disaster, the spokesman said that Hong Kong Police continued to contact relatives of missing Hong Kong people for the collection of DNA samples. The Police had so far taken samples from 27 family members of the missing people.
A dedicated web page containing information on the tsunamis can be accessed through a hyperlink at the Government's homepage (www.info.gov.hk) or the Immigration Department's homepage (www.immd.gov.hk). The total page view up to January 13 stood at 1 200 398.
The web page provides, with the consent of families concerned, information on the personal particulars of Hong Kong residents reported to have lost contact with their families. Hyperlinks had been established with the dedicated websites of Thai Government and Red Cross on the tsunamis.
The spokesman also advised people to beware of suspected fraud emails soliciting donations to help South Asian people affected by the tsunamis. Reports on such emails can be made to the Police at 2860 5012.
Ends/Friday, January 14, 2005
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