Shek Kip Mei fire
The Shek Kip Mei Fire took place in Hong Kong on 25 December 1953. It destroyed the Shek Kip Mei shantytown of immigrants from Mainland China who had fled to Hong Kong, leaving 53,000 people homeless.
After the fire, the governor Alexander Grantham launched a public housing programme to introduce the idea of "multi storey building" for the immigrant population living there. The standardised new structures offered fire- and flood-resistant construction to previously vulnerable hut dwellers. The programme involved demolishing the rest of the makeshift houses left untouched by the fire, and the construction of the Shek Kip Mei Low-cost Housing Estate in their stead.
