Abahlali says disaster plan needed for shack dwellers
Shack dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo says there is an urgent need for a disaster management plan for informal settlements.
Residents from the Kennedy Road Informal Settlement last week had to evacuate the area after a fire gutted dozens of homes.
eThekwini's Disaster Management said the blaze gutted 40 shacks, leaving 76 people homeless.
Abahlali baseMjondolo's Thapelo Mohapi says some residents belong to their organisation and lost everything they owned.
He says catastrophic fires have become a seasonal disaster for shack dwellers.
READ: Kennedy Road fire: Illegal connections possible cause
Mohapi has appealed to the City to act quickly.
" We are proposing that there should be foot soldiers who are training the community to deal with this so that when a there's fire there are people who are able to actually take people in a safer place so, that people do not lose their possession and then don't lose their lives here.
"We are also, calling for disaster assembly points. Whenever there's a fire, people must be assembled in a safe place."
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