By Princess Eugene Majuru
Mbare, Harare Zimbabwe (News of The South) – A huge devastating fire engulfed Harare’s popular Mbare market on Tuesday night. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
Local residents were said to have lined up in the streets taking videos and pictures of the fire and there was no sign of emergency services, reports from Mbare indicate others were busy looting. For a fire of that magnitude one would have expected to see all emergency sevices working as a team to put out the fire. Video footage from onlookers showed how the fire was burning for a long time. The fire is reported to have spread to nearby shops. Video footage showed smoke billowing into the dark skies, this has obviosly caused so much damage to the environment.
Emergency services in Zimbabwe could have done better in terms of response time and resources. Reports from Harare indicate 3 fire brigade tankers were dispatched to the scene, this was hardly enough much more was needed. Water bowsers were said to have been dispatched to assist in controlling the fire.
Harare City council complained about Zimbabwe Republic police failing to clear the streets of the big crowds and this was said to have slowed down response efforts to contol the fire.
Volunteer Emergency help group is said to have chipped in with assiatnce of water tankers. Harare city Council issued an update as :
The fire at Mbare Musika is now under control only after the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) cleared the huge crowd that had gathered.
“Fire Tenders and water bowsers provided by the Emergency Help Group managed to gain access to the fire”.
“The fire at Mbare Musika is now under control only after the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) cleared the huge crowd that had gathered.
Fire Tenders and water bowsers provided by the Emergency Help Group managed to gain access to the fire.
Well done to the the City of Harare Fire Team once again for a great job and a big thank you to ZRP and the Emergency Help Group”.
From the above statement it is clear that at the time of the fire communication between Harare city council and police was poor.
It is interesting to see what happens from now, as this is a disaster assistance should be given to those heavily affected by the blaze, the council and various Ministries, corporates and individuals should all come together to assist those affected, if no assistance is given we can expect to see a rise in crime as the affected struggle to survive. Many have now lost their goods and jobs its a very sad situation.
The Harare city council with assistance from various corporates now have the chance to build a good market and put in place fire extinguishers and be strict on health and safety matters . At this point the city council should give traders temporary area to operate from. Mbare musika has been known to have been overcrowded for many years but nothing was done about it, it was just a disaster waiting to happen. Harare City Council is equally responsible for not taking control of the market and ensuring order and health and safety issues were ignored for many decades.
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