伦敦格伦费尔大楼火灾后政府应对不力

Five days after a deadly blaze devastated a 24-storey West London tower block, local authorities have been sidelined after their relief effort was widely lambasted for failing to provide proper support to those affected by the fire.

在一场致命火灾毁掉伦敦西部一栋24层的公寓楼5天之后，地方当局已遭边缘化，因为他们的救援努力被广泛批评没能为火灾受害者提供适当的支持。

A person involved in the emergency response told the Financial Times that Kensington and Chelsea Council would no longer be in charge of operations to help survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. Gold Command, a hierarchy to organise the emergency response, will now be led by a group of chief executives from councils across London. It has also been renamed the Grenfell Fire Response Team.

一名了解紧急救援情况的人士告诉英国《金融时报》，肯辛顿-切尔西区(Kensington and Chelsea)议会将不再负责帮助格伦费尔大楼(Grenfell Tower)火灾幸存者的行动。组织紧急救援的领导团队Gold Command，现在将由一群来自全伦敦各区议会的行政长官组成，并已更名为格伦费尔火灾反应小组(Grenfell Fire Response Team)。

“This new team is now leading the recovery and response to the Grenfell Tower fire,” Eleanor Kelly, chief executive of Southwark council, said in a statement released on Sunday evening on behalf of the new group.

“现在，这个新小组领导着格伦费尔大楼火灾恢复与响应工作，”萨瑟克(Southwark)议会行政长官埃莉诺?凯利(Eleanor Kelly)于周日晚代表这个新小组发表声明称。

As part of the shake-up, the British Red Cross will also be expanding its role in the relief effort “at the request of the authorities,” according to a Red Cross spokesperson.

英国红十字会(British Red Cross)一名发言人称，作为此次大改组的一部分，该会“应当局要求”也将扩大自己在救援行动中的角色。

At least 58 people who were in Grenfell Tower are missing and presumed dead, the Metropolitan Police said on Saturday.

伦敦警察厅(Metropolitan Police)周六表示，火灾时在格伦费尔大楼里面的人中，至少58人失踪，估计已经死亡。

Stuart Cundy, Metropolitan Police commander, warned families of those still unaccounted for that operations to recover and identify bodies were hampered by difficult conditions inside the burnt-out building.

伦敦警察厅高级警官斯图尔特?坎迪(Stuart Cundy)提醒仍下落不明者的家属，被焚毁大楼内的状况很糟糕，影响了找回并确认尸体的行动。

Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been criticised for a lacklustre response to the tragedy, admitted on Saturday that the support provided was “not good enough”.

周六，被批评对这场灾难反应无力的英国首相特里萨?梅(Theresa May)承认，所提供的支持“不够充分”。

Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn stepped up calls for the government to take stronger action, including by requisitioning empty houses for the use of those made homeless by the fire.

同时，工党领袖杰里米?科尔宾(Jeremy Corbyn)提高调门呼吁政府采取更强力措施，包括征用空屋供因火灾而无家可归者使用。

“Occupy it, compulsory purchase it, requisition it — there's a lot of things you can do,” he told ITV’s Robert Peston.

“占有，强制购买，征用——你可以做很多事情，”他对英国独立电视台(ITV)的罗伯特?佩斯顿(Robert Peston)说。

The tragedy has laid bare divisions in a London borough where extraordinary wealth exists in proximity to public housing estates, and brought scrutiny to a local council long dominated by the Conservatives.

这场灾难暴露出伦敦肯辛顿-切尔西区内的分化（这里廉价公共房屋与巨富比邻而居），并让长期由保守党人主导的该区议会受到审视。

Volunteers and community organisers involved in the Grenfell response have repeatedly voiced frustration at the lack of official support from the council and the central government.

参加了格伦费尔火灾响应行动的志愿者和社区组织者，多次对该区议会和中央政府官方支持缺位表示了失望。

Several residents and volunteers have complained that government officials have been virtually invisible in the area — in spite of claims to the contrary.

几位居民和志愿者抱怨称，在该地区几乎见不到政府官员，尽管后者的说法恰好相反。

One of the volunteers, who lives locally and asked not to be named, called the response “abysmal” and said she was left struggling to manage a growing mountain of physical donations — enough, she thought, to last “30 years”.

其中一名不愿具名的本地志愿者称政府的响应“糟糕透顶”，她称只有她自己奋力管理越积越多的捐赠物资——她认为这些物资足以用“30年”。

“We're the wealthiest borough in the country. We’re sitting on nearly ￡300m. We couldn't spend a little of it to get one or two emergency people in?” she said. “Of all the boroughs in this country, this one should be operating at the highest standards.”

“我们是英国最富裕的区。我们坐拥将近3亿英镑。我们不能花一点钱聘请一两位应急人员吗？”她说，“在全国各区里，我们区应该是以最高标准运作的。”

Nicholas Paget-Brown, leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, refuted claims that council officials have been absent, saying they “have been working around the clock since Wednesday” to organise support.

肯辛顿-切尔西区议会领导人尼古拉斯?佩吉特-布朗(Nicholas Paget-Brown)反驳了外界对该区议会官员缺席救灾行动的说法，他称他们“自从上周三以来一直夜以继日地”组织支援行动。

Nevertheless, even some fellow councillors from Kensington and Chelsea expressed concern that the body had failed to co-ordinate relief efforts, or keep them informed.

尽管如此，就连肯辛顿-切尔西区的一些议员也表示忧心，称区议会未能协调救灾行动，也没有对他们通报情况。

Linda Wade, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said: “The communication has been appalling. You can understand for the first few hours, but for the last few days no communication has gone out to councillors. We don't know how to inform residents.”

自由民主党(Liberal Democrat)议员琳达?韦德(Linda Wade)表示：“沟通情况令人震惊。最初几个小时这样你可以理解，但最近几天议员没有收到任何消息。我们不知道如何通知居民。”

Public anger boiled over on Friday afternoon, with hundreds of protesters occupying the council building. That led to the building’s closure on Saturday, and forced officials to work from other sites, according to a statement issued by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council. It also confirmed that “officers from other boroughs have also been helping”.

上周五下午，公众的愤怒爆发了，数百名抗议者占据了区议会大楼。根据肯辛顿-切尔西区议会发表的声明，这导致该大楼在周六关闭，迫使官员在其他地点办公。该声明也证实了“其他区官员也在帮忙”。

The disaster has raised concerns about the safety of thousands of UK tower blocks, with senior opposition politicians calling for preventive measures to be taken. In an interview with Sky News, shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for sprinkler systems to be fitted to high-rise buildings to avoid similar incidents.

此次火灾引发了人们对英国数千栋塔楼的安全性的担忧，反对党资深政客呼吁政府采取预防措施。影子财相约翰?麦克唐奈(John McDonnell)在接受天空新闻电视台(Sky News)采访时呼吁在高层建筑里安装自动喷水灭火系统，以避免类似事件再次发生。

But Philip Hammond, chancellor, said the government would only consider retro-fitting sprinklers if a “proper technical evaluation” recommended it.

但财政大臣菲利普?哈蒙德(Philip Hammond)表示，只有在“适当的技术评估”推荐这么做时，政府才会考虑加装自动喷水装置。

Mr Hammond said a criminal investigation and public inquiry will scrutinise whether building regulations were breached in a recent ￡8.6m refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. Some have blamed insulating material that was fitted to the tower’s exterior in the refit for the fire’s rapid spread.

哈蒙德称，刑事调查和公开调查将仔细审查不久前对格伦费尔大楼进行的耗资860万英镑的翻新作业是否违反了建筑条例。一些人认为此次火灾迅速蔓延的罪魁祸首是翻新中外墙包层所用的隔热材料。