Mutual Aid Committees
A mutual aid committee is a voluntary body formed by the residents of a building. Mutual aid committees were promoted initially in private multi-storey buildings, and quickly extended to public housing estates, industrial buildings, temporary housing and squatter areas. As at March 31, 2004, there were 3,103 mutual aid committees throughout Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. The primary aims of a mutual aid committee are to promote a sense of friendliness, mutual help and responsibility among members, and to promote better security, a better environment and, generally, more effective management within the building. These committees provide a channel of two-way communication between the Government and the residents on matters affecting the well-being of the individual and the community and also provide opportunities for residents to participate in community activities.
Read more about this topic: Home Affairs Department
Famous quotes containing the words mutual, aid and/or committees:
“It is with such eyes ... that a pair of angels exiled among men ... gaze at one another in mutual recognition.”
—Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (1783–1842)
“There aren’t any good, brave causes left. If the big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won’t be in aid of the old-fashioned grand design. It’ll just be for the Brave New-nothing-very-much-thank-you. About as pointless and inglorious as stepping in front of a bus. No, there’s nothing left for it, me boy, but to let yourself be butchered by the women.”
—John Osborne (1929–1994)
“A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.”
—C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993)