Nearly 40% of Hong Kong’s elderly population live in areas rated medium-high to high for heat risk, according to a heat risk map released by Greenpeace on 10 September. Kwun Tong, Kwai Tsing, Tuen Mun and Wong Tai Sin were identified as districts with particularly serious risks.
The assessment divided Hong Kong into 452 district council constituencies and used 2021 census data. It considered daytime and night-time surface temperatures, the density of elderly residents, income and education levels, as well as indicators including elderly people living alone and households made up of older couples.
Greenpeace said 145 constituencies were rated medium-high to high risk during the day, and about 90% of those were also in the same risk categories at night. Ming Pao reported that University of Hong Kong architecture professor Ren Chao said previous research had found that five consecutive hot days or hot nights were associated with mortality risks rising by 3.99% and 6.66%, respectively.
The group said the current arrangement of one cooling centre in each district was insufficient to meet local conditions and the needs of older residents. The concern follows a spell of nine consecutive very hot days in Hong Kong in August, which was reported to have broken the record for the longest such run in that month.
Greenpeace called for a high-temperature action plan and a cross-departmental co-ordination mechanism to identify and support elderly people in high-risk areas at an early stage. It also urged the Government to expand community cooling assistance and include heat governance, more greenery and cooling measures in new developments, including projects in the Northern Metropolis.
Former Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying said district resources should be used quickly to create more cooling spaces and support channels for older people, including telephone help where no physical venue is available. He also said next year could be hotter than this year. Lam separately criticised the addition of two Labour Department conditions for triggering different levels of heat warnings as making the system more complicated, and expressed a personal preference for the internationally used wet-bulb globe temperature.
Greenpeace said the Government should include a high-temperature action plan in the Chief Executive’s Policy Address and related policies. The address is due to be delivered the following Wednesday.