Fire ravages Clairwood shack settlement [PHOTOS]
It traumatised me, now I will remember the flames"- Sir Kurma Reddi resident
FIFTY-six lives have been displaced after a devastating fire raged through the Sir Kumar Reddi informal settlement in Clairwood Monday morning, 25 September.
READ: Shack fires raze Dakota families’ belongings – January 14, 2015
Thanda Mini, a resident of the settlement for six years said she lost everything she owned in the fire. “It’s bad, no-one can go to work, the children can’t go to school. All we can do right now is rebuild,” she said.
Just hours after the fire, the community has already begun rebuilding the settlement but with nowhere to go, those who lost their homes have to share with the few whose homes were not affected by the blaze. On Tuesday morning when the Sun visited the fire-ravaged area, three men were huddled around a fire built inside one of the shacks. “Where must we go? This is what we have to do while we get back to normal,” said one man. Some 22 women and children were sharing a shack to protect them from the cold winds and rains.
Fortunately the fire did not claim any lives, but one man was hospitalised. He is reportedly out of ICU. According to Garrith Jamieson from Rescue Care, the man was treated for burns to his arms and face while he was trying to salvage his belongings from the fire.
READ ALSO: Boy (7) dies as fire razes informal settlements [VIDEO] – July 1, 2014
“It could have been worse. It traumatised me, now I will remember the flames, I will remember the smell of destruction every time I see a fire,” cried Thanda.
It is unclear what caused the fire, which was brought under control an hour after it started at about 11am.
Disaster management officials from the city visited the site on the Monday, 25 September public holiday to hand out blankets and tinned food but it will not be enough to sustain the families. “We need help, many of the people who live here don’t work and have lost everything they ever owned,” she added.
WATCH: Firemen’s battle to fight the blaze
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