Assessment of Risks from Fire Disaster at Onitsha Main Market, Onitsha

Abstract

The research aims to assess the risks of fire disasters at Onitsha Main Market. The study used a quantitative research strategy, adopting a survey design. Structured questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. A purposive sampling procedure was used to randomly select three respondents among 121 lines in the market and 35 administrative respondents, totalling 400 respondents. There is always an economic cost for every fire incident: the damage to properties and valuable items that can never be recovered due to the fire incident. Therefore, the study suggested some recommendations, which include reverting to the original plan of the market, provision of adequate water supply and spreading the pipe through different lines and zones in the market; rectifying the problem of illegal connections, dangerous and unsupervised wiring in the market and removal of illegal structures in the market, dismantling of the attachment should be considered.

Keywords: Fire, Risk, Disaster, Market, Urbanization