Shack Fires – InternAfrica Statistics for the Last Decade and the Last Year

These statistics are collected from media reports and so, as valuable as the painstaking collection of information that has gone into them is, they are likely to be an under count. There are hotlinks to spreadsheets and further details on the InternAfrica site.

Click here to see the AbM collection of articles and other information on shack fires.

http://www.internafrica.org/2011/01/in-world-where-in-land-in-decade-i.html

In 2010

Fire displaced 1,516 humans, killing between 58 and 81 mainly children, maiming another 2 and destroyed 4,908 shacks. Floods displaced 7,058 humans from their settlements.

2000 – 2010 Affected by Fire, Flood and Xenophobia

Number of Shacks: 68,710

Human Settlement Deaths: 335

Humans Displaced from Settlements: 237,412

Burn Victims: 90

InternAfrica has included Xenophobic displacements in the decade tally of humans displaced from their settlements in the past 10 years:

This decade has seen the most horrific events and service delivery protests unfold in the informal settlements of Cape Town, making the days of apartheid and Cross Roads seem tame. Images of armed cars and Police in their hundreds chasing men women and children firing rubber bullets and tear gas to forcefully evict humans from their settlements. Eyes; gonads being shot out by the police.

In most cases homes created by the occupants themselves as opposed to provided for by government.