Until recently, the luxurious homes of the Redhill Peninsula seemed to be a haven for wealthy Hong Kongers seeking a quiet lifestyle in an otherwise notoriously cramped metropolis of 7.5 million people.
The cliff-side location and uninterrupted views of the South China Sea created great feng shui and provided the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of city life for the gated community of tycoons, expats and celebrities.
But the same pristine location had a negative impact on September 8, when a storm brought the heaviest rain in nearly 140 years to Hong Kong, causing devastating damage across the city.
Two people died and more than a hundred were injured after receiving more than 600 mm (23.Six inches of rain fell on the coastal city, flooding subway stations and turning streets into rivers.
The chaos was not limited to the flooded lowlands. The ground collapsed on the edge of the cliff separating the Redhill Peninsula from the sea, leaving three million-dollar homes dangerously close to the edge and requiring an evacuation.
In a city that had just experienced its hottest summer on record, the unprecedented rains (which were themselves the result of the second typhoon to hit the city in a week) were striking evidence of the threat posed by climate change consequences. associated extreme weather.
But for Redhill Peninsula residents it was also a reminder that climate change is rewriting the rules for "safe" building and that even the most expensive and well-built homes can be at risk.
For some it may even be a reminder that such rules exist. City officials say they are investigating whether building code violations in some homes contributed to the problem, a development that is likely to fuel perceptions that the rich are not playing by the same rules as the poor.
Regardless of what this research reveals, experts say that extreme weather events like the one on September 8th will become more common and when they occur, both rich and poor will suffer the consequences (regardless of the regulations they follow), even if the former have much more recovery ability. of disasters than the latter.
As Benny Chan, president of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, points out, Hong Kong has long been vulnerable to typhoons and torrential rains and has "a lot of experience in building such cliff-side houses."
also has strict safety standards developed over many years with landslides in mind, he says.So it would have been reasonable - at least until a few weeks ago - to assume that a place like the Redhill Peninsula would be a safe place in the event of a storm.
A “sensitive” topic
This will be uncomfortable for anyone who has invested in Redhill Peninsula, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.
properties here have the same appeal and prestige as the Los Angeles coast of Malibu. They have a distinctive Mediterranean style, with colors alternating between shades of cream and pink, and many have French windows overlooking Tai Tam Cove, a picturesque spot with a lush hiking trail nearby and spacious shelter for anchoring yachts . Luxury underneath.
A home of 2,400 to 3,600 square feet can cost between $10 million and $20 million (and rent is up to $20,000 per month). At least they were able to do so before the recent downpour.Local real estate agents say the storm's impact on home prices is a "sensitive" issue for some in the community.
When CNN visited Redhill last week, sports cars and SUVs with Porsche, Land Rover and Ferrari logos were among the vehicles that drove through the palm-lined entrance, where a security guard stood like an impenetrable wall, keeping the flock of journalists gathered around to prevent access.
According to a real estate agent with more than two decades of experience selling real estate, the area's real draw is its close-knit community.
“There is an international school and the kids can hang out at home after school,” said the agent, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue. He was referring to the Hong Kong International School, one of the city's most prestigious.
“Almost all the houses have sea views,” he said, adding that although the complex is far from the hustle and bustle of the city, it offers a convenient bus service for transporting residents.
The three homes most affected by the landslides ranged in size from 2,700 to 3,000 square feet and were each worth up to $11.5 million, the agent said.
He added that he had noticed a change in mood in recent days and hoped that anyone trying to sell a property, especially one near the sea, would remain discreet for a while.
“It’s a delicate moment,” he said.
Old rules may not apply
Heavy rain is not uncommon in Hong Kong, especially in the summer months.
Still, recent weather conditions have been worrying for many, with two consecutive typhoons devastating the region in less than two weeks.
Typhoon Saola, which hit Hong Kong on September 1, was the strongest typhoon in five years. A week later, the remnants of Typhoon Haikui unleashed rain that caused problems in Redhill, causing dozens of landslides and submerging large parts of the city.
Scientists say climate change will make these weather events more common, and some are calling on Hong Kong to rethink its strategy to reduce rainfall.
Leung Wing-mo, former deputy director of the city's meteorological observatory, told public broadcaster RTHK that storms are becoming increasingly difficult to predict due to climate change.
"In recent decades, unprecedented events have occurred much, much more frequently... This is a clear indication that climate change is playing a role. "In fact, climate change is making extreme weather events even more extreme," Leung said.
With that in mind, architects and civil engineers are also calling on the city to review standards set decades ago for hillside buildings, including many luxury villas.
The city experienced some of its worst landslides in the 1970s, including one that leveled several residential buildings in the city's exclusive Mid-Levels district and claimed 67 lives.
The same heavy rain that caused the Mid-Levels landslide in 1972 also collapsed a hill in a district of Hong Kong's Kowloon Peninsula, decimating an illegal settlement in Sau Mai Ping and causing another 71 deaths.
Ray Su, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Hong Kong, said the series of catastrophic incidents prompted the then government to reinforce slopes across the city, making Hong Kong one of the most resilient places to landslides and floods in the world.
However, some engineers fear that safety regulations that appeared adequate in the past may no longer be sufficient.
Su noticed that some of the city's low-rise buildings were still built on shallow foundations.
In extreme rainfall scenarios, "they will take a big hit when the landslides collapse," he said.
“A Time Bomb”
Making matters worse in the Redhill Peninsula case, authorities suspect that some of the properties at risk may not even have complied with the old rules.
After the storm, government authorities discovered what they believed to be potentially illegal alterations made to the three Redhill properties. Experts say these changes may have contributed to the disaster.
This proposal is something of a third rail problem in a city that has a history of scandals involving wealthy people and politicians converting their properties and violating building codes by making illegal additions that skeptics say are the least Beneficiaries would not enforce their will. with.
According to the Hong Kong Department of Buildings, these unauthorized conversions include basements, a swimming pool and a three-story extension.
The issue is so controversial that even city leader John Lee weighed in, promising that the government will investigate and prosecute anyone found to have violated building codes.
“The Redhill Peninsula landslide has already shown us that part of the estate poses risks, so relevant departments will focus on the estate to carry out inspections,” he said last week.
Preliminary investigations have shown that a retaining wall in one of the houses was demolished.
Chan, of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, said the change could destabilize the underlying cliff structure and severely affect the drainage of the soil below, ultimately leading to landslides.
“The more water that is trapped, the less able a large slope is to maintain the slope,” Chan said.
He said that while the painful lessons of the past had led to high standards in the construction of retaining walls and drainage systems, the old requirements were slowly losing relevance.
“These standards were set a long time ago,” he said.
“Can current standards handle this much rain?“It is time for the government to re-examine them,” he added.
Chan Kim-ching, founder of the Liber Research Community, a non-governmental organization focused on monitoring government land policies, said the security issues arising from the illegal changes went far beyond the Redhill cases.
His group recently compared contracts available in public records and identified at least 173 individual homes across the city suspected of having violations on public property.
“We have studied it in the past because it implies the fair use of public resources. “It never occurred to us that this was an issue that would endanger public safety,” he said.
“It’s like a time bomb,” Chan said.
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