Immediate Measures to Ensure Personal Safety of Hong Kong Travellers in Thailand（2013/12/04）

MR YIU SI-WING: Whenever serious incidents or natural disasters occur in places outside Hong Kong, the situation there will become a great concern to Hong Kong people who are already there or travellers poised to depart for those places.

May I ask the Secretary through what channel or mechanism the Government can learn about the actual situation there in order to determine the level of OTA to be issued when the situation is deteriorating?

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: President, we have many varied channels, with local Chinese Diplomatic or Consular Missions being the most direct channel. Since these Missions are stationed in those places, a lot of information can be acquired through them by various means. Very often, we will contact them direct.

Furthermore, we can certainly gather information by paying attention to the news reports of many countries and regions around the world, because they will also be watching these incidents closely and disseminate information on various aspects on a timely basis. If the television news reports of certain places can be viewed instantly in Hong Kong, we will keep track of them, too. We will gather all the information collected for analysis before making a decision.