Schools considered as disaster shelter locations

The government is studying the option of using schools as temporary shelters in the event of a future disaster, the director of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), Leong Lai, said yesterday, on the sidelines of the Youth Affairs Committee’s plenary meeting.

The DSEJ will hear the opinions of the Fire Services Bureau, Social Affairs Bureau and other departments regarding the topic. After this consultation period, the government will decide which schools are suitable shelter locations.

As Leong explained, the city needs to “enhance the education of students regarding self-rescue, rescuing other people and disaster prevention. She continued by saying the city also needs to both enhance teachers’ knowledge about all these aspects and improve the structural safety of some school facilities.

“In the future, [the government] will organize people to go to mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan to visit works related to disaster and danger prevention,” announced Leong.

When talking about other topics concerning education, Leong expressed his hope that next year there will be an increase in the DSEJ budget.

Leong also disclosed that she has already delivered a letter of resignation to her superior. According to Leong, she will retire in February of next year. She believes that the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture already has a candidate to occupy her position.

Further, the acting head of the Education Department of DSEJ, Kong Chi Meng, stated that the construction associated with a school project in Coloane is scheduled to commence before the new year, and that the project will last for two years.