 |
| Fire consuming shops in Molyko-Buea |
By Zakah Mbako Josepher*
A fire outbreak near Malingo Street in the evening of Saturday July 16 in the neighborhood of Molyko, in Buea, capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon that reduced seven shops worth millions of FCFA to aches, has reignited calls for the putting in place of a fire brigade in the town, which has a population of over 200,000 residents and hosts the first Anglo-Saxon University in the country.
A fire outbreak near Malingo Street in the evening of Saturday July 16 in the neighborhood of Molyko, in Buea, capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon that reduced seven shops worth millions of FCFA to aches, has reignited calls for the putting in place of a fire brigade in the town, which has a population of over 200,000 residents and hosts the first Anglo-Saxon University in the country.
In recent years fire disasters have caused the loss of property
worth hundreds of millions of FCFA and left several families homeless and or
jobless; but the Cameroon government is yet to consider the putting in place of
a fire rescue service in Buea, former capital of German kamerun and the British
Southern Cameroons, as a priority project.
As July 16 wild fire,
said to have originated from a wooden building, consumed the shops whose contents
included electronic gadgets, dresses and shoes, their owners struggled helplessly
to extinguish the fire using unconventional methods.
As members of population that had gathered in sympathy helped in
bringing the fire under control, a few looters took advantage of the incident.
Surprisingly, the fire disaster occurred directly opposite the
Molyko Police Station.
One Molyko resident who witnessed the fire disaster strongly
blamed the Biya regime for not establishing a fire rescue unit in an important
town as Buea.He noted that the absence of a fire brigade in Buea is a clear
sign of Government abandoning people it is supposed to protect.
“Why is Buea the only
regional headquarters reportedly without a fire brigade? What are the elite of
the town doing to persuade the Government see need for such an important
service here?” one University of Buea student questioned at the scene of the
disaster.
Other residents were of
the opinion that had Buea fire rescue units, the extent of damage and suffering
inflicted on victims by fire disasters in recent years would have significantly
reduced.
An investigation is said to have started to establish the real
cause of the fire and evaluate property lost to it.
But it is not known whether Government will compensate the
victims somehow.
*Zakah Mbako Josepher
is University of Buea Journalism Student on internship
1 comment:
The need for a fire brigarde is really alarming in molyko here. It is of common knowledge here that the population in molyko is largely dominated by students that generally return to their family houses during holidays or short breaks. Supposing such an event takes place during that time. The population left over might not be able to deal with the situation, thus the need for a mobile fire brigarde able to intervene in time of need.
Post a Comment