JOHANNESBURG – Gift of the Givers was on site yesterday at the Booysens fire site which destroyed hundreds of shacks and left families homeless.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
Emily Thomas, Gift of the Givers Johannesburg project manager, assisted disaster management, Metro police and the ward councillors, assessing the scale of destruction of the fire that started late afternoon.
Disaster management were efficient in putting out the blaze and found shelter for the women and children. While there were no fatalities, the fire destroyed 400 shacks, displacing 2 000 people.
These families are acting swiftly to secure their "land" and start rebuilding.
Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers said, “Gift of the Givers teams are at the location of the fire to provide hot meals, baby porridge and water for the weekend, blankets and diapers to the families that were impacted by the fire”.
“Once the residents are settled in their dwellings, the organisation will be supplying mattresses, food parcels, hygiene packs, stationery and school uniforms to residents,” added Sooliman.
Last year in August, a fire broke out at the Booysens informal settlement at around 11pm in the evening with no reports of any injuries.
IOL