Abstract
Buildings as infrastructure along with people’s lives need protection against fire outbreaks. Knowledge on the use of installed facilities is essential in tackling There emergencies, otherwise their installation becomes meaningless. Lack of such knowledge could hamper escape from There hazards and thwart attempts to contain there outbreaks at their preliminary stage. THis study, carried out in the Central Business District of Dar es Salaam City, assessed urban there risk with respect to public awareness on the use of #re #ghting facilities and preparedness in the event of #re outbreaks. Public buildings with at least four storeys or 2000m2 floor space were surveyed. According to the Fire and Rescue Act of 2007, such buildings have to be provided with adequate means of escape and #re #ghting facilities. Data was collected through observation and interviews with building managers, users and key informants. The study revealed high there disaster risk in most buildings of the study area, as 60% of the buildings’ users do not know how to operate the facilities, and 41% are not aware of the available escape means in case of there outbreak. Worse still, only 29% had received training within the past five years, and 68% had never been trained.
Highlights
Background to the StudyThe world has in the past three decades experienced a succession of disasters such as floods, fires, storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides
Selection of the Central Business District (CBD) was based on the grounds that it consists of many buildings that are subject to section 22(1) of the Fire Fighting and Rescue Act 14 of 2007
Defective facilities are found in 50% of the buildings studied, whereas most of the fire extinguishers are working and in good condition
Summary
The world has in the past three decades experienced a succession of disasters such as floods, fires, storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides. Assessing urban re risk in the central business district of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania fire disaster that occurred in 1984 in Mexico (Cavallini et al, 2007), the Mozambican floods of the year 2000 (BBC News, 2000) and the 2010 Chilean earthquake (ICRC, 2010). All stakeholders, especially the users of the buildings need to be well-equipped in terms of knowledge on how to prevent and react to fire outbreaks
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