Top Abstract Purchase Related
Home
>
Node
>
Subnode

Fire risk reduction on the margins of an urbanizing world

Rush, D.; Bankoff, G.; Cooper-Knock, S.; Gibson, L.; Hirst, L.; Jordan, S.; Spinardi, G.; Twigg, J.; Walls, R.S.

Disaster Prevention and Management An International Journal 29(5): 747-760

2020

ISSN/ISBN: 0965-3562
Document Number: 257653
Purpose Globally, over 95% of fire related deaths and injuries occur in low- and middle-income countries. Within informal settlements, the risk of fire resulting in injury or death is particularly high. This paper examines fire risks in informal settlements in New Delhi and Cape Town, and tented informal settlements in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach Our analysis draws on primary sources, secondary literature, statistical data and qualitative interviews. Findings The distribution of fire risk across urban societies is a fundamentally political issue. Residential fire risk can be tackled by accessible, affordable, safety-compliant housing. That said, important interim measures can be taken to mitigate fire risk. Some of the risks requiring attention are similar across our case studies, driven by high population densities; flammable housing materials; unreliable or inaccessible access to safe power sources; and – in the case of Cape Town and New Delhi particularly – the inability of fire services to reach sites of fire. However, these common risks are embedded in distinct social, economic and political contexts that must be placed at the center of any intervention. Interventions must also be aware that the risk of fire is not spread evenly within informal settlements, intersecting as it does with factors like gender, age, health and disability. Originality/value Informal settlement fires have been under-studied to date. The studies that do exist tend to operate within disciplinary silos. This paper represents an important interdisciplinary approach to fire within informal settlements, which grounds technical data, modeling and experiments in political, social and economic realities.

Document emailed within 1 workday
Secure & encrypted payments

Boccara, G. 2003: Rethinking the Margins/Thinking from the Margins: Culture, Power, and Place on the Frontiers of the new World Identities 10(1): 59-81
Gracey, M. 2002: Child health in an urbanizing world Acta Paediatrica 91(1): 1-8
Clarke, J.I. 1970: Housing in the Modern World: Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World, Migrants, Urban Poverty, and Instability in Developing Nations and Building Cooperative Movements in Developing Countries: the Sociological and Psychological Aspects International Affairs 46(3): 564-565
Clarke, J.I. 1970: Housing in the Modern World: Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World, Migrants, Urban Poverty, and Instability in Developing Nations and Building Cooperative Movements in Developing Countries: the Sociological and Psychological Aspects International Affairs 46(3): 564-565
Clarke, J.I. 1970: Housing in the Modern World: Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World, Migrants, Urban Poverty, and Instability in Developing Nations and Building Cooperative Movements in Developing Countries: the Sociological and Psychological Aspects International Affairs 46(3): 564-565
Kalichman, S.C.; Kelly, J.A.; Hunter, T.L.; Murphy, D.A.; Tyler, R. 1993: Culturally tailored HIV-AIDS risk-reduction messages targeted to African-American urban women: impact on risk sensitization and risk reduction Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 61(2): 291-295
1975: Swedish fire experts on fire hazards in the hospital: fire hazards should be considered with greatest seriousness Sygeplejersken 75(16): 21 32
Krämer, N.; Kunzelmann, K.-H.; García-Godoy, F.; Häberlein, I.; Meier, B.; Frankenberger, R. 2007: Determination of caries risk at resin composite margins American Journal of Dentistry 20(1): 59-64
McGuire, S. 2013: WHO, World Food Programme, and International Fund for Agricultural Development. 2012. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012. Economic growth is necessary but not sufficient to accelerate reduction of hunger and malnutrition. Rome, FAO Advances in Nutrition 4(1): 126-127
McGuire, S. 2013: WHO, World Food Programme, and International Fund for Agricultural Development. 2012. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012. Economic growth is necessary but not sufficient to accelerate reduction of hunger and malnutrition. Rome, FAO Advances in Nutrition 4(1): 126-127
Sorensen, B. 1977: Fire hazards in hospitals and nursing homes. 1. Many patients are injured by fire in institutions Sygeplejersken 77(7): 18-19
1991: Smoke and flame. The experts share their experiences in fire fighting and fire prevention Occupational Health and Safety 60(7): 28-30 47
Cascinelli, N.; Belli, F. 1993: The case for minimal margins and delayed regional node dissection for high-risk cutaneous melanoma Current Opinion in General Surgery 1993: 310-315
McGee, E.; Lang, T.L. 2002: A study of the effects of a Micelle Encapsulator Fire Suppression Agent on dynamic headspace analysis of fire debris samples Journal of Forensic Sciences 47(2): 267-274
Ungerer, M. 1995: Fire prevention in the hospital. "Can you carry the fire extinguisher?" Pflege Zeitschrift 48(12): 753-754
Lee, J.H. 2009: Smokeless tobacco and head and neck cancer: there is risk even without fire South Dakota Medicine: the Journal of the South Dakota State Medical Association Spec No: 38-39
Carrillo, L.; Fleming, L.E.; Lee, D.J. 1996: Bloodborne pathogens risk and precautions among urban fire-rescue workers Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 38(9): 920-924
Witt, M. 2005: Fire fighters as a high-risk group of pathological changes in the respiratory tract Przeglad Lekarski 62(10): 986-988
Verbesselt, J.; Somers, B.; Lhermitte, S.; van Aardt, J.; Jonckheere, I.; Coppin, P. 2005: Fire risk assessment in savanna ecosystems with multi-temporal satellite data Communications in Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences 70(2): 23-26
Sibthorpe, B.; Fleming, D.; Gould, J. 1994: Self-help groups: a key to HIV risk reduction for high-risk injection drug users? Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 7(6): 592-598