汲取伦敦火灾教训

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.

即便最铁石心肠的人，也会为上周在肯辛顿区格伦费尔大楼(Grenfell Tower)那场令人震惊的大火所触动。不断上升的死伤人数以及幸存者的悲惨处境在伦敦的心脏留下了一个伤口，将需要很长时间才能愈合。

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.

这场火灾因何而起?怎么烧起来的?是否本来可以避免?怎么避免?责任在哪儿?查明这些问题的任务才刚刚开始。尽管在弄清所有事实之前，我们应避免急于作出判断，但还是应该提出尖锐的问题，迅速采取行动汲取所得教训。首相特里萨•梅(Theresa May)呼吁公开调查是正确的，确保政治阶层履行其对社会最贫困群体的义务至关重要。

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.

我在格伦费尔大楼附近长大，因此上周我感到尤为悲痛。年轻时，我曾有许多朋友住在那栋大楼里，后来我办的一个青少年慈善机构，有好多来自那儿及周边地段的孩子们光顾。人们从来没有假装格伦费尔大楼是完美的居住地，但它为许多人提供了希望：有朝一日他们可以拥有自己的居所。可惜现在对于许多居民来说，这些希望已经破灭。不仅如此，在一个房源已经稀缺的地区，这120套住房的突然损失将带来重大问题，而且将直接影响到当地人的人生机遇。这些住房将需要取代。

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.

关于格伦费尔大楼存在明显火灾及安全隐患的文章已经很多。我住在斯文布鲁克公共住房小区(Swinbrook Estate)附近较新的法拉第大楼(Faraday House)，新旧大楼间的安全标准存在极为明显的差异。这表明了建筑规范和遵守这些标准的重要性，还突显了一项紧迫任务：确保伦敦及其他城市数百栋老大楼，尤其是近年翻新过的那些大楼的安全性和适用性。鉴于此次及以往事件，所有公房业主都必须重新检查租户的消防安全措施。

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.

的确，我们至少可以——而且应该——更进一步，要求公房业主公开其房产的消防审核和检查。提供这些信息将提高透明度，增加公众监督，还将确保任何安全问题都引起保险公司的关注，进一步施压房东尽快解决这些问题。

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.

这些惨剧也暴露了租户管理组织(TMO)的问题，其中之一就是负责管理该区社会住房的Kensington and Chelsea TMO。这些非盈利企业的建立是基于一个有意义的目标：提高租户对其住房的控制权。但以我的经验，到头来它们往往被视为在更大程度上站在地方议会一边，而不是它们理应服务的居民。问题主要在于教育。租户受邀加入管理委员会并出席会议，但缺乏培训意味着他们经常不知道要注意什么问题。这意味着在实践中，房东拥有很大力量，而租户没有挑战他们的充足工具。我们在格伦费尔大楼事件中看出了这一点，居民对火灾风险的多次关注似乎都被忽视。这种风气需要被改变，以确保租户管理组织真正为居民(而不是房东)利益服务。