Influence of frequent fire disasters on mitigation and preparedness among entrepreneurs in Nairobi central business district

Abstract

Disasters of varying magnitude have occurred in many parts of the world, often caused by different types of hazardous substances. Fire hazards whether naturally occurring or technological in origin cause disasters that in most cases are devastating. However, fire is so central to human life that man cannot do without it. As a result, man has to take precautions to reduce the fire related risks to tolerable levels. Bearing in mind that disaster conditions subject people to stress due to harsh living conditions suddenly brought about by the unfolding effects of hazards; mechanisms have to be designed to enable people cope with or help themselves out of such circumstances

Over the past few years, many fire disasters have occurred in Kenya more so around Nairobi. Property worth billions of shillings has gone to waste, infrastructure destroyed, lives lost and injuries inflicted. Many people have been impoverished as a result. Whether occurring at night or during the day, fir in Nairobi have been characteristic of consuming all the structures and their contents, thus posing great threats to livelihood property and environment.

The study covered the' Nairobi Central Business District, which was subdivided into 24 clusters whereby six of them were randomly selected and

studied. The study interviewed 120 entrepreneurs from six randomly selected clusters within the NCBD,. and 25 other selected key informants in groups of 5 through FGDs. Several aspects of fire disaster mitigation and preparedness were investigated in this study, in line with four principal areas of concern which included the actual measures taken, levels of confidence with those measures, improvements made in those measures in the recent past and how those improvements relate to the frequent fire disasters. Results from the investigations, were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively, recommendations given and conclusions drawn.