Who are the vulnerable communities?
Vulnerable communities includes adults over the age of 65, children under the age of 5, people with disabilities and people living in informal settlements without basic services.
Informal settlements includes all of the above at risk communities. Even more concerning is the fact that fire safety in these communities are basically non-existent. Fires in informal settlements results in many fire deaths, massive destruction of property and homelessness for all affected.
Around one billion people (UN 2012) worldwide, live in informal settlements (also known commonly by the more derogatory names of slums, ghettos, shantytowns, etc.), and these areas are often ravaged by fires. Projections predict that up to 3 billion people will live in informal settlements by 2030 [United Nations, n.d.]
