汲取倫敦火災教訓

This week’s appalling fire at Grenfell Tower in Kensington could not fail to move even the hardest of hearts. The rising toll of death, injury and destitution leaves an open wound at the heart of London that will take a long time to heal.

即便最鐵石心腸的人，也會為上周在肯辛頓區(qū)格倫費爾大樓(Grenfell Tower)那場令人震驚的大火所觸動。不斷上升的死傷人數(shù)以及幸存者的悲慘處境在倫敦的心臟留下了一個傷口，將需要很長時間才能愈合。

The task of trying to piece together how and why this fire started, whether and how it could have been prevented, and where responsibility lies, is only just beginning. While a rush to judgment should be avoided until we know all the facts, searching questions should certainly be asked and lessons learnt should be swiftly acted upon. It is right that the Theresa May, the prime minister, has called a public inquiry, and it is vital to ensure that the political class fulfils its obligations towards the poorest in society.

這場火災因何而起?怎么燒起來的?是否本來可以避免?怎么避免?責任在哪兒?查明這些問題的任務(wù)才剛剛開始。盡管在弄清所有事實之前，我們應(yīng)避免急于作出判斷，但還是應(yīng)該提出尖銳的問題，迅速采取行動汲取所得教訓。首相特里薩•梅(Theresa May)呼吁公開調(diào)查是正確的，確保政治階層履行其對社會最貧困群體的義務(wù)至關(guān)重要。

I grew up in the area around Grenfell Tower, so for me this week has been particularly devastating. As a young man I had many friends who lived in the tower, and later on I ran a youth charity filled with kids from there and the surrounding area. Nobody ever pretended that Grenfell Tower was the perfect place to live, but it offered hope to many people that they could one day own their own place. Now, sadly, for many residents these hopes will have been dashed. Not only that, but the sudden loss of these 120 homes will be significant in an area of already low housing stock, and this will directly affect the life chances of local people. These homes will need replacing as soon as possible.

我在格倫費爾大樓附近長大，因此上周我感到尤為悲痛。年輕時，我曾有許多朋友住在那棟大樓里，后來我辦的一個青少年慈善機構(gòu)，有好多來自那兒及周邊地段的孩子們光顧。人們從來沒有假裝格倫費爾大樓是完美的居住地，但它為許多人提供了希望：有朝一日他們可以擁有自己的居所?？上КF(xiàn)在對于許多居民來說，這些希望已經(jīng)破滅。不僅如此，在一個房源已經(jīng)稀缺的地區(qū)，這120套住房的突然損失將帶來重大問題，而且將直接影響到當?shù)厝说娜松鷻C遇。這些住房將需要取代。

Much has been written about the apparent fire and safety issues at Grenfell Tower. I lived in the newer Faraday House on the nearby Swinbrook Estate, and the difference in safety standards between newer and older blocks is very apparent. This shows the importance of building regulations and adhering to those standards. It also underlines the urgency of ensuring that the hundreds of older tower blocks that still remain in London and elsewhere, especially those that have been refurbished in recent years, are safe and fit for purpose. And in light of this and previous incidents, all social landlords must re-examine the fire safety arrangements for their tenants.

關(guān)于格倫費爾大樓存在明顯火災及安全隱患的文章已經(jīng)很多。我住在斯文布魯克公共住房小區(qū)(Swinbrook Estate)附近較新的法拉第大樓(Faraday House)，新舊大樓間的安全標準存在極為明顯的差異。這表明了建筑規(guī)范和遵守這些標準的重要性，還突顯了一項緊迫任務(wù)：確保倫敦及其他城市數(shù)百棟老大樓，尤其是近年翻新過的那些大樓的安全性和適用性。鑒于此次及以往事件，所有公房業(yè)主都必須重新檢查租戶的消防安全措施。

Indeed, there is at least one way in which we can — and should — go further than this. Social landlords should be required to make public all fire audits and inspections for their properties. Providing this information would improve transparency and increase public scrutiny. It would also ensure that any safety issues reach the attention of insurance companies, putting further pressure on landlords to deal with these issues as soon as possible.

的確，我們至少可以——而且應(yīng)該——更進一步，要求公房業(yè)主公開其房產(chǎn)的消防審核和檢查。提供這些信息將提高透明度，增加公眾監(jiān)督，還將確保任何安全問題都引起保險公司的關(guān)注，進一步施壓房東盡快解決這些問題。

These tragic events have also shone a light on tenant management organisations, one of which is the Kensington and Chelsea TMO, which runs social housing in the borough. These not-for-profit companies are set up with the worthwhile aim of giving tenants more control over where they live. However, in my experience they often end up being seen as more on the side of councils, rather than the residents they were established to serve. The problem is primarily one of education. Tenants are invited to join boards and attend meetings, but a lack of training means that they often do not know what issues to look for. This means that in practice, a great deal of power lies with landlords, without adequate tools for the tenants to challenge them. We saw this with Grenfell Tower, where repeated concerns from residents about fire risk seem to have been ignored. This ethos needs to change to ensure that TMOs truly work in the interests of residents rather than the landlord.

這些慘劇也暴露了租戶管理組織(TMO)的問題，其中之一就是負責管理該區(qū)社會住房的Kensington and Chelsea TMO。這些非盈利企業(yè)的建立是基于一個有意義的目標：提高租戶對其住房的控制權(quán)。但以我的經(jīng)驗，到頭來它們往往被視為在更大程度上站在地方議會一邊，而不是它們理應(yīng)服務(wù)的居民。問題主要在于教育。租戶受邀加入管理委員會并出席會議，但缺乏培訓意味著他們經(jīng)常不知道要注意什么問題。這意味著在實踐中，房東擁有很大力量，而租戶沒有挑戰(zhàn)他們的充足工具。我們在格倫費爾大樓事件中看出了這一點，居民對火災風險的多次關(guān)注似乎都被忽視。這種風氣需要被改變，以確保租戶管理組織真正為居民(而不是房東)利益服務(wù)。