More mobilised civil servants report on time: govt
Civil service chief Ingrid Yeung on Monday said more public servants were able to report for duty on time under a mobilisation protocol used during a government-wide drill on handling emergencies.  The exercise last month simulated a situation where a super typhoon was approaching Hong Kong, with civil servants called up to assist residents in low-lying areas.  At a Legislative Council panel meeting, Yeung said the exercise showed that public servants had improved their internal communication, compared to the first drill held about a year ago.  "The [Civil Service Bureau] worked with different bureaus and departments and we were able to contact all staff required within 40 minutes. And the relevant bureaus and departments also, within a short period time, contacted their staff members. So 99 percent of our staff members were able to arrive at the designated locations within a specified time. This shows that the communication mechanism worked," she told lawmakers. Yeung added that authorities were able to swiftly deliver supplies from storage facilities set up across the city to specified locations. Lawmaker Kwok Wai-keung, of the Federation of Trade Unions, raised concerns about civil servants having to catch up their usual work after being deployed under the mechanism.  In response, Yeung said she believes bureaus and departments would take a "compassionate approach".  "Say, if the mobilisation exercise [on a work day] completes at 5.30pm, no staff will be asked to go back to their original post to finish their work. The work will be shared among other colleagues," she said. Government-wide mobilisation went into effect twice last year, with hundreds of civil servants deployed to help clear up the aftermath of Super Typhoon Saola as well as following torrential downpours in September.