More than 500 residents have been displaced after fires tore through the informal settlements of Imizamo Yethu and Masiphumelele over the weekend, destroying around 100 structures. Firefighters managed to contain both blazes, while the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre continues to coordinate emergency services on the ground.
Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has stepped in to assist affected families, providing relief supplies and support to residents who lost their homes and belongings.
Project lead Ali Sablay said the organisation has been on high alert as the region faces rising temperatures and an increase in fires across informal settlements.
“Most definitely. With the heatwave predicted over the next two days, our teams are already preparing,” Sablay explained. “We are quite concerned about the number of fires that have occurred over the last two months, and this weekend was no different.”
Sablay said the first call for assistance came on Saturday afternoon when community leaders in Imizamo Yethu reported that several structures were burning. Emergency teams struggled to gain access while firefighters were still battling the blaze.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, another call came from Masiphumelele reporting a similar incident. Sablay said about 300 people were affected in that area alone, bringing the total number of people impacted over the weekend to close to a thousand.
“You can just imagine the mood on the ground,” Sablay said. “We saw children who couldn’t attend school because their uniforms and stationery were completely burned.”
Listen to the full interview below:
VOC News
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