CT Disaster Risk Management urges caution after fires ravage informal settlements

CAPE TOWN - Be cautious when making open fires and always ensure they are properly extinguished with either sand or water.
 
This is the plea from the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre, where teams are experiencing a very busy Christmas period.

A series of devastating fires have been reported across a number of informal settlements.

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Crews from the humanitarian aid organisation, Gift of the Givers, have had their hands full in recent days, assisting fire victims with hot meals, baby packs, hygiene packs, food parcels, and blankets.
 
At the start of the week, 86 structures were destroyed in Masiphumelele, leaving more than four hundred people homeless.
 
On Tuesday, one person died and 132 people were left displaced after a fire ripped through a section of the Wag 'n Bietjie informal settlement in Nomzamo, Strand.
 
On Christmas morning, Du Noon residents woke up to a fire raging in the Ekuphumleni informal settlement.
 
Disaster Management spokesperson, Sonica Lategan, said that their assessments had revealed that electrical infrastructure, as well as toilets and taps, had been damaged.
 
"Disaster risk management officials are still busy finalising assessments but current totals suggest about 300 structures were affected with about 600 people being displaced and one person sustaining injuries."

Three churches in Du Noon have opened up their halls to host some of those displaced.