South African authorities have announced plans to resettle at least 150 residents displaced by a fire disaster that destroyed a two-story building on Sunday morning.
The fire in the Johannesburg CBD killed at least two people and wounded several others, according to the city's mayor Kabelo Gwamanda.
“We are currently working on relocating them to temporary emergency accommodation. But that will have to be done in collaboration with the national government. They will have to assist us financially in terms of the facilities that we need to allocate,” says Gwamanda.
Approximately 150 people residing in shacks within the building have been rendered homeless, according to the City of Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services EMS.
Police say they have arrested a woman suspected of starting the fire.
"On arrival, we found that two people had jumped from the second floor, and three people were rescued from the balcony,’’ says Johannesburg EMS Spokesperson Nana Radebe-Kgiba.
South Africa has seen frequent fire disasters in recent years. At least 76 people died in August last year after a fire engulfed a five-story apartment block in Marshalltown, Johannesburg.
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