Fire Razes Over 100 Houses At IDP Camp In Central African Republic
The fire was allegedly started by a displaced person trying to burn refuse; the fire spread quickly across other huts.
Over one hundred huts were on Sunday, April 18, ravaged by fire in the PK3 camp situated on the Southeast of Bria, the chief town of the Haute-Kotto district in the Central African Republic.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but eyewitnesses say the fire was caused by a displaced person who was trying to burn some waste near his hut.
“The fire started at about 11 o’clock [CAT] in the morning and quickly spread and all the man’s attempts to control it failed,” an eyewitness told HumAngle.
“It eventually swept through over one hundred closely built huts which ended up being razed to the ground.”
“This new catastrophe which has rendered hundreds homeless again comes to add to the sufferings of the displaced persons who have been living under very precarious conditions.”
Sources close to the French humanitarian non-governmental organisation, Medicins sans frontieres (MSF) also known as Doctors Without Borders revealed that three persons suffered burns from the fire but their lives were not in danger.
The PK3 camp for displaced persons situated to the Southeast of Bria town hosts thousands of displaced persons who have been fleeing from the armed conflict in the country since 2016.
Fire incidents are becoming rampant in camps for displaced persons in the Central African Republic. Such fires have in the past ravaged camps in Kaga-Bandoro situated in the Nana-Grebizi prefecture and Bambari in Ouaka prefecture.
Most of the fire incidents occur during the dry season and quickly spread because of strong winds during that period.
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