Assessment of the Socio-economic Impact of Fire Disaster among Public Buildings in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
By Udoh Hope I., Obafemi, A. A. , Mbee, M. D.Fire
outbreak in is a problem in Nigeria public buildings and it has led to loss of
goods and destruction of assets. The study assessed the socio-economic impact
of fire disaster among public buildings in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
Four hundred (400) questionnaire was administered among randomly selected
respondents (public building occupants); however, 376 were returned and
analysed using descriptive and inferential statistic such as frequency count
and percentage. The respondents agreed that socio-economic impacts of fire
disaster include reduced quality of life of the victims (57.4%), individual
suffers direct physical and emotional harm from injuries and fatalities
(51.1%), loss of lives (83.0%), socio-economic activities interruption (55.8%),
respiratory disorder among the victims (52.6%), property damage and reduced the
building value (76.3%), low patronage or desertion from the building due to
fire incidents history (55.9%), property damage to the non-occupants of the
building (55.3%). Conclusively, fire disaster among among public building leads
to various socio-economic implications; therefore, building owners should
partner with Government agency such as Fire Service for awareness programmes
for their occupants, drilling about fire event and equipped their building with
fire-fighting apparatus.