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Baguio Villa (碧瑤灣) is a residential area located in Southern District, Hong Kong. It is divided by Victoria Road into Upper Baguio Villa (555 Victoria Road) and Lower Baguio Villa (550 Victoria Road). Upper Baguio Villa consists of Blocks 19-27, and Lower Baguio Villa, which consists of Block 16-18 and 28-48, is close to the Cyberport. With total area up to 800,000 square feet, only one-tenth was reserved for the construction of residential towers. And unit area ranges from 1,100 square feet to 2,700 square feet.

Contents 1 Residents 2 Transportation 3 Shopping 4 Facilities 5 Traditions 6 Tragedy 7 Landslide

There is a relatively high proportion of foreigners living in Baguio Villa. Most of the young generation from Baguio Villa attend international schools around the area, e.g. West Island School, Hong Kong International School and Kennedy School. Some people have problems with Hong Kong International School and have switched them to West Island School since they feel they will have more friends there. Well, of course, some people have also switched from West Island school because of the same reason.

There are two minibuses in service. Minibus no.8 runs between Baguio Villa (with the terminus in Lower Baguio Villa) and Star Ferry. Minibus no.28 runs between Baguio Villa (with the terminus in Upper Baguio Villa) and Causeway Bay. The cost per ride is 7.5HKD and 8.0HKD respectively. Buses to Stanley Market can be caught from Cyberport (a short walk from Lower Baguio Villas)

There is a Park'n Shop Supermarket located in Lower Baguio Villa.

There is a swimming pool, a tennis court, and a playground in both Upper and Lower Baguio Villa for the residents' use. There is a Shell gas station situated in-between Upper and Lower Baguio Villa.

A Mid-Autumn Festival gathering is held every year in the playground of the Upper Baguio Villa. In Halloween, children will go around the buildings to do trick or treat. On Christmas Eve, members of the Salvation Army sing Christmas carols at the playground and accept donations from residents.

The 1992 monsoon season saw Baguio Villa marred by tragedy. Aberrantly heavy rainfalls took their toll on the hillside beside Baguio Villa. A landslide ensued which careened into the lower apartments, displacing the foundations. There were 3 fatalities, including a government engineer and a child.

Partly as a result of this tragedy the HK government developed a media-based rain warning system.

Happened in 1989. When there are major landslides, a number of government departments will mobilise their resources to provide emergency services like road closures, building evacuation, urgent rescues and slope repairs.

To prevent further landslides, these departments all need to seek professional advice from the Civil Engineering Department's Geotechnical Engineering Office.

Geotechnical gurus: The Emergency Control Centre assesses landslide reports and sends experts to inspect landslide sites and give advice on slope repair works.

When a great demand for emergency services is anticipated, such as when a landslip warning is in force, or Typhoon Signal No.8 or above is hoisted, the office's Emergency Control Centre will come into operation.

"The centre's major task is to provide advisory services to various departments such as the Police, and Fire Services and Highways Departments," Deputy Director of Civil Engineering Raymond Chan said.

"Our objective is to protect the public from landslip hazards and assist various departments to restore services which have been disrupted by landslides."

Located in the Civil Engineering Building in Ho Man Tin, the centre is manned by a team of geotechnical engineers and technical staff.

"When the team controller receives landslip reports, they will assess the seriousness of the case and send geotechnical engineers to the scene to do inspections and give advice on road closures, rescues and other urgent repairs."

Mr Chan said there are a number of challenges that the Geotechnical Engineers face when handling landslip reports.

The first is to assess the degree of emergency of an incident with limited information provided by informants. In many cases, officers need to make their own judgement with their geotechnical expertise and experience.

Another difficulty is to make appropriate recommendations under a stressful situation.

"When we give advice on rescue operations, we have to consider the safety of both victims and rescue teams. It may sometimes put us in a difficult dilemma because the situation may not allow our rescue personnel to carry on with their rescue operations."

Sometimes, the public does not welcome the geotechnical engineers' recommendations because they cause inconvenience.

"When we make our suggestions, we will take public convenience into our consideration and try our very best to avoid causing disruption to society," Mr Chan said.

"However, when it comes to public safety, there is little room for compromise because there is nothing more important than human lives."