Addis Ababa University

College of Development Studies

Center of Environment and Sustainable Development (MA Program)

THESIS PROPOSAL
TITLE፡- Small Micro Enterprises Awareness, Attitude and Practice of Fire Disaster
management in Addis Ababa city; Ethiopia

By GashahunKasaye ID GSE/7700/14

Advisors:- Dr. SHIMELIS DAMENE

December,2023

Addis Ababa

Ethiopia
 1. Back ground of the study
1.1. INTRODUCTION
Disasters have always been a result of human interaction with nature, technology and other
living entities. Sometimes unpredictable and sudden, sometimes slow and lingering, various
types of disasters continually affect the way in which we live our daily lives. Human beings as
innovative creatures have sought new ways in which to curb the devastating effects of disasters.
However, for years human conduct regarding disasters has been reactive in nature. Communities,
sometimes aware of the risks that they face, would wait in anticipation of a disastrous event and
then activate plans and procedures. Human social and economic development has further
contributed to creating vulnerability and thus weakening the ability of humans to cope with
disasters and their effects (USAID, AUGUST 2011)

Disasters hit every part of the globe (developing and developed), causing deaths and
destructions. Hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions,
landslides, cyclones, wars, oil spills, acts of terrorism, just to name a few, are the natural and
man-made disaster events that resulted in untold suffering to the millions of people worldwide
(Programme, 25 June, 2012)

Apparently, most of the developing countries bear the brunt of natural hazards disaster losses.
Because of the considerably low coping capacity, physical, social, and economic vulnerability
developing countries are suffering more from disasters than developed ones. Globally, disaster
losses have shown an increasing trend over the past decade. In 2007, for instance, disasters
caused nearly 10,000 deaths and over $54 billion worth of losses worldwide (UNESCO, 10
October 2007)

As (Sendai Framework, 2015 )DRR meeting report shows us, over the same 10 year time
frame, however, disasters have continued to exact a heavy toll and, as a result, the well-being and
safety of persons, communities and countries as a whole have been affected. Over 700 thousand
people have lost their lives, over 1.4 million have been injured and approximately 23 million
have been made homeless as a result of disasters. Overall, more than 1.5 billion people have
been affected by disasters in various ways, with women, children and people in vulnerable
situations disproportionately affected. The total economic loss was more than $1.3 trillion.
According to the (Disasters, 2023) Emergency Event Database EM-DAT recorded; In 2022,1 the
Emergency Event Database EM-DAT recorded 387 natural hazards and disasters worldwide,2
resulting in the loss of 30,704 lives 3 and affecting 185 million individuals. Economic losses
totaled around US$223.8 billion. Heat waves caused over 16,000 excess deaths 4 in Europe,
while droughts affected 88.9 million people in Africa. Hurricane Ian single-handedly caused
damage costing US$100 billion in the Americas. The human and economic impact of disasters
was relatively higher in Africa, e.g., with 16.4% of the share of deaths compared to 3.8% in the
previous two decades. It was relatively lower in Asia despite Asia experiencing some of the most
destructive disasters in 2022.

The link between disasters and development is well researched and documented. The fact that
disasters impact on development (e.g. a school being washed away in a flood) and development
increases or decreases the risk of disasters (e.g. introducing earthquake-resistant building
techniques) is widely accepted. Yet, every year Africa suffers disaster losses which set back
development and leave our communities living in a perpetual state of risk effects (USAID,
AUGUST 2011) Africa has come a long way since the global arena emphasized the need for
multi stakeholder disaster risk reduction rather than continuing the unsustainable cycle of
disaster management. Africa is the only continent whose share of reported disasters in the world
total has increased over the past decade. More people are affected by natural hazards, and
economic losses incurred are rising. Disaster impacts have become an impediment to sustainable
development in Africa. Disaster risk reduction policies and institutional mechanisms do exist at
various degrees of completeness in African countries (Africa, Union, july 2023) However, their
effectiveness is limited, hence the need for a strategic approach to improving and enhancing their
effectiveness and efficiency by emphasizing disaster risk reduction. The African Union (AU) and
its New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) offers the opportunity to promote such
a strategic change (Africa, Union, july 2023)

Fire hazard is defined as the state of combustion that occurs when combustible material is ignited
and combined with oxygen to give off light, flame, and heat. The author indicated that fire can be
termed as one of the most destructive disasters that can happen in any magnitude. Fires can occur
naturally or through human-activated behaviors (Marrion, 2016)
Fire disasters have physical, psychological, and economic impacts on the victims, vulnerable
groups, rescue teams, and society. Fire’s physical impacts on victims include bodily harm such
as burns and difficulties in breathing after inhaling the gases. However, the victims may fail to
display any symptoms if they were not severely affected by the fire (Marrion, 2016)

According to (Amuli, 2019) Fire disaster preparedness practices include regular drills, training
and the integration of disaster issues in the school curriculum. The fire disaster incidents in the
United States are higher among the poor people than among the rich. The most affected people
are the children, the aged and the people with disabilities.

The most important part of fire disaster management is design face in term of careful structural
design, Analysis and evaluation of factor that lead towards hazards. Construction and operation
will allow predicting reasonable level of confidence, un-planned event that may create
emergency. These considerations enable management to help in preparing an effective plan be
based on indentifying the hazards techniques, prediction, and prevention, beside preparation to
cope with it (muhammad et al, 2023)

Ethiopia is, amongst the developing countries, the most vulnerable to natural and man-made
disasters. Among others, drought induced famine, flood, landslide, crop-pests, infrequent
earthquake and wars are the major triggering events that have, over the past many years, been
causing incalculable suffering to communities and millions of dollar worth of property
destructions. Drought induced famine has, for many years, been the worst disaster event from
which millions of Ethiopians, mostly rural residents, experienced immense anguish and it still
remains a national policy agenda and problem (Matteo Bizzotto, et al, 2019)

Over the last three decades, Ethiopia learned the hardest way to transform its disaster
management from a mere apparatus of response and recovery to preparedness, mitigation, and
development. Resources and technical (technological) capacities aside, Ethiopia now possesses a
wealth of (drought) disaster management experiences (Abebe, 2010)

This has resulted in overcrowding and the emergence of informal settlements with poor disaster
awareness, attitude and practices. For many years, a great deal of efforts and resources were
wasted on post-disaster response, recovery, and rehabilitation rather than on pre-disaster
preparedness and prevention measures. This has invariably caused immense loss of lives and
dislocation (Abebe, 2010)

The different elements of disaster risk management should need attention, and how these
different elements contribute to our understanding and better management of disasters will be
explained in this study.

1.2. Statement of the problem

Small Micro Enterprises contribute to the well being and the livelihoods system of their
community by providing and demanding employment, goods and services. These are needed
even more in time of crises, in order to restore the economic fabric of disaster affected
communities. Small Micro Enterprises also support the creation of social capital in communities,
which is a crucial element in restoring the social fabric ruptured by disasters, with local
businesses reopening and providing spaces for social bonding small micro enterprises can
contribute to motivating a relocated population of return home, as well as helping to attract new
investment in recovering areas (villarroel, 2013)

According to Mariana infant (villarroel, 2013) small micro enterprises are considered to be more
vulnerable to natural disaster than large firms, given the more limited range of risk management
mechanisms they can access. Furthermore small micro enterprises in developing countries have
additional characteristics that can exacerbate their vulnerability such as informality, which keeps
them out of the reach of government disaster risk management programs and other disaster risk
management strategies (e.g. insurance) constrains the ability of small micro enterprises to
diversify their supply and customer base and implies a lack of compliance with norms and
regulations that can increase disaster risk for them and their employees.

Fire disaster has various features, which include; it spreads quickly, which makes it impossible
for people to collect valuables or make calls. All fires start small, and if contained at the initial
levels, the disaster can be prevented. When a fire is left to spread in an area where oxygen supply
is sufficient and combustible material is available, fires spread within a short time, cause
immense damage, and become life-threatening. Fire causes panic to the people nearby, which is
a factor that makes fire disasters dramatic. Those close to the sudden fire get panic attacks which
makes the situation hard to control (Muhammad et al, 2014)
Evidences shows that the majority of small micro enterprises are worse off after disasters, loss of
assets, supplies, customers and staff can compromise livelihood strategies of small micro
enterprises to handle the consequences of disasters, compared to larger firms. Evidence on small
micro enterprises failure after disaster is limited and varies widely from context to context
though the impact of fire disasters on the financial viability of small micro enterprises point at
increasing vulnerability after the event, and decreasing ability to cope with shocks (villarroel,
2013)

According to (Abebe, 2010) Disaster Management in Ethiopia: Ethiopia, like many other
developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has experienced rapid urbanization in recent years.

As the Addis Ababa fire and disaster risk management commission report from 2008 to 2023
shows the loses of properties and life is increasing year to year due to fire disaster on small micro
enter prices in Addis Ababa city. And no sufficient and applicable researches had done before;
about this issue. As a result of this I want to study the Awareness, Attitude and Practice of Small
Microenterprises on Fire Disaster Management in Addis Ababa City.

1.3. Objectives of the study

1.3.1. General objective
To analyze the awareness, Attitude and practice of small microenterprises on fire disaster
management.
1.3.2. Specific objectives
 To analyze the vulnerability of small microenterprises to fire disaster.
 To assess the awareness and attitudes of small microenterprises workers and owners on fire
disaster management.
 To examine fire disaster management practice of small microenterprises.
 1.4. Research question
There is no formal study as a country concerning fire disaster management on small
microenterprises. Hence, this study is aimed to analysis the awareness, Attitude and Practice of
small microenterprises on fire disaster management in Addis Ababa City.

By rising the research questions:-

What are the past histories of the occurrence of fire disaster on microenterprise in AA city?

What seems the fire disaster management practice of microenterprises in AA city?

What are the gaps on Knowledge about fire safety and control measures?

1.5. Scope of the Study

The scope of this research is to identify the exposure level of the study area through selected
elements at risk using self observation, and identify dominant Small microenterprises awareness,
attitude and practice to fire disaster management problems, factors that make them socially
vulnerable to fire disaster in the study area using survey result, expert opinion, comparative
studies. Not all, but Selected Theoretical Small microenterprises awareness, attitude and practice
to fire disaster management indicators were used as a proxy indicator in the survey tool for
assessing and see their impact on the small microenterprises vulnerability and fire disaster
management trend in the study area.

1.6. Significance of the study

The results of this study could be used to facilitate decision making in planning out programs and
projects with respect to fire disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.
Furthermore, the research finding can be used to identify priority locations where interventions
can mitigate both physical and social aspects of fire disaster vulnerability of the study area.
The identified social vulnerability drivers to fire disaster could be contributing to developing an
indicator set of social vulnerability to fire exposure at larger scale.
 1.7. Limitation of the study
This study might be challenged by introducing subjectivity to the criteria selections, weighting of
the criteria as it involves experts’ opinions on criteria selections and determination of criteria
weight. This study uses indicator-based social vulnerability to flood and limited by not applying
various complex fire disaster management analysis methods for showing in-depth analysis of fire
disaster management within the study area.

1.8. Organization of the thesis

The thesis is arranged into five chapters. Chapter one is about the background of the study, a
statement of the problem, objective of the study, and significance of the study, the scope of the
study, limitation of the study and organization of the thesis. Chapter two is about review of
related literature, empirical review of the floods and theoretical framework of the study. Chapter
three is about methods and materials used for the study and general description of the study area.
Chapter four is about results and discussion of the study and Chapter five is about conclusion and
recommendations based on the finding of the study.
 CAPTER TWO

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter presents the related literature that supports the findings of the study. It includes the
concepts of fire disaster and small microenterprises and their relationship, the importance of
small microenterprises in the development, the importance of fire safety.

2.1. Theoretical Literature

2.1.1. Definitions and Concepts
RISK - can be related directly to the concept of disaster, given that it includes the total losses and
damages that can be suffered after a natural hazard: dead and injured people, damage to property
and interruption of activities. There is a high risk of disaster when one or more natural hazards
occur in a vulnerable situation. It is the potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged
assets that could occur in a system, society, or a community in a specific period, which is
determined probabilistically (UN/ISDR, 2009)
HAZARD - is the probability that in a given period in a given area, an extreme potentially
damaging natural phenomenon occurs that induces air, earth or water movements, which affect a
given zone. The magnitude of the phenomenon, the probability of its occurrence and the extent
of its impact can vary and, in some cases, be determined. It refers to the possible, future
occurrence of natural or human-induced physical events which will have adverse effects on
vulnerable and exposed elements (Birkmann, 2013)
DISASTER, itself is a multifaceted, diverse and complicated phenomenon; it is for sure that
exemplification of any specific dimension of disaster is difficult in general circumstances.
Disaster tends to expose general population to traumatic conditions and appears as the sole cause
for PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Yehuda and Mcfarlane argued against this perception
of disaster, the disaster survivors should be viewed as, “psychologically damaged by the
experiences that befell them or was it more appropriate to validate the experience of trauma from
a humanistic and existential perspective by viewing their responses as an adaptation to
frightening environmental events?”. The taxonomy of disaster advocates to evade coinciding and
ambiguous terminologies to define natural events as their dissimilar facets may cause multiple
psychological reactions (Muhammad RJ, 2018)
2.1.2. Approaches to Vulnerability Studies
As (Riddhi Sarda, Sarika Bahadure, 2023) proposed two approaches of examining vulnerability:
The dominant approaches vs. the alternative political economy approaches. The dominants
approaches examine vulnerability through concepts such as maladaptation, the inability to
incorporate hazards within living patterns and irrational human response to hazard. This
approach assumed that disaster as a characteristic of hazard. Disaster is seen as a function of
hazard which, as causal agent, acts on passive, vulnerable conditions. Only with the interruption
of an unscheduled hazard does disaster occur. According to this approach, people are said to be
vulnerable because of their own lack of information about hazards, erroneous risk perceptions, or
ineffective decision-making and management processes in their community. However, the
approach is unable to explain how individual decisions are affected or influenced by social and
economic constraints.

2.1.3. The Concept of fire disaster

Fire is a small word with serious meaning. Most people do not realize the destruction and
damage to human life and property a fire can cause. The outbreak of fire pose a significant threat
to all persons within a building and it can have serious financial and psychological implications.
Fire safety is essential component and requirement in building infrastructure plans. Provision of
fire safety system like emergency exits, different types of fire extinguishers, safe assemble area,
fire hydrant system is mandatory even in any work place settings (McKimmie, BM, et al, 2009)

There are 3 essential elements which cause fire viz. fuel source, sufficient heat to ignition and the
presence of oxygen and these 3 are commonly referred to as fire triangle, increasing the risk of
fire accidents. Like the epidemiological triad for disease, fire also can be extinguished by
removing one of the 3 components (Sravan Kumar Yeturu et al, , 2016)

Three basic technique for fire extinguishing include starvation (removing the fuel from the fire),
blanketing (by limiting the oxygen supply) and cooling (to remove heat). Fire can be classified
into four types viz. Class A (fire due to burning of wood, paper, ordinary material), Class B (due
to gasoline and other inflammable liquids), Class C (due to live electrical equipment), Class D
(due to combustible metals) (Sravan Kumar Yeturu et al, , 2016)
 To extinguish these four types of fire there are four types of extinguishers viz. water, dry
powder, foam and carbon dioxide. A fire risk assessment should also be done which is basically
a structural look at workplace to allow identification of hazards and assessment as to whether
existing precautions are satisfactory or need to be updated (Sravan Kumar Yeturu et al, , 2016)

Concept of vulnerability:- vulnerability can be defined in different ways from different

perspectives. For instance, as (Muhammad RJ, 2018) States, The prime concept of hazard is
complex and intricate and we cannot call an hazard as "disaster in making; if an earthquake hits
an isolated desert with no poulation and property then it would not be tagged as disaster". The
magnitude of any disaster is ascertained through the level of vulnerability of the area exposed to
a natural phenomenon leads to hazard leads to disaster. So, it is vulnerability that provides
distinction between a hazard and disaster.

The relations of hazard and vulnerability:- None of the hazards counter vulnerability but
vulnerability always counters hazard as it is the state that ensures existence of vulnerability. As
there has been no distinctive definition of disaster available and it is always defined in the
perspective of losses it incurs and these loses manifest vulnerability (Muhammad RJ, 2018)

2.2. Theoretical Framework

According to (Muhammad RJ, 2018)Theory is simply a meditative or coherent form that further
offers descriptive framework for particular observations and with the help of certain assumptions
relevant to explanation follows scores of hypotheses that are tested to gain support or challenge
the theory. Theory can also be a body of knowledge not associated with specific explanatory
models and theorizing helps develop this body of knowledge.

Contributing disciplines towards emergency management:- Geography and sociology are the
two key academic disciplines that have so far contributed towards emergency management.
Geography provides extensive knowledge about the nature and causes of hazards while
sociology contributed towards providing fundamental framework for comprehending social
causes and human behaviors during and after disaster (Muhammad RJ, 2018)

As (Muhammad RJ, 2018)defines, Theoretical progression in emergency management revolves

around five core dimensions (Geographical, Geological, Sociological, Psychological and
Environmental) in order to establish a comprehensive disaster management theory; we need to
look into the possibilities that ascertain notion of commonality among these dimensions.

National Disaster Management Policy

Clear definition of national disaster management policy is essential if a country is to establish

and maintain adequate arrangements to deal with all aspects of its disaster threat. This applies to
all levels of the national structure and organization—that is, from the national government to the
local government or community level. If such a policy does not exist, arrangements to deal with
disaster will be ill-defined and inadequate. Consequently, loss of material and human resources
will arise; the nation, as a whole, will suffer (Carter, W. Nick, 2008)

Ethiopian National Policy and Strategy on Disaster Risk Management

Policy Adaptation, Disaster Risk Management

The National Policy and Strategy on Disaster Risk Management aims to reduce disaster risks and
potential damage caused by a disaster through a comprehensive and coordinated Disaster Risk
Management System in the context of sustainable development.

The policy focuses on ten directives, which include the Disaster Risk Management System, and
Early Warning System, Official Disaster Declaration System, Resource mobilization,
Information and communication, among other directives. It recommends the creation of a
Disaster Risk Management Council to lead the implementation of the policy, and of a Disaster
Risk Management Coordination to support this task by coordinating different stakeholders. In
addition, the Policy recognizes as one of the cross-cutting issues the vulnerability caused by
climate change (Ethiopian national disaster risk management commiission, 2023)
Fire in Ethiopia

Fire occurrence is influenced by interactions between human activity, climate, and fuels that are
difficult to disentangle but crucial to understand, given fire’s role in carbon dynamics,
deforestation, and habitat maintenance, alteration, or loss. To determine the relative balance of
climatic and anthropogenic influences on fire activity, we quantified interannual variability in
burned area across Ethiopia from 2001 to 2018 and developed a statistical model to assess
climate and human factors contributing to patterns of area burned (harris et al. , 2023)

According to (harris et al. , 2023) Annual burned area declined nationally and within several
regions from 2001 to 2018 and was closely related to climate, particularly antecedent
temperature. Of the area that burned at least once, 62% reburned at 1–3-year intervals and the
geographic region of frequent-fire areas did not shift over time. Despite increased enforcement of
a fire ban over the past 20 years, no strong spatiotemporal shifts in fire occurrence patterns were
detected at a national level. But there is no formal studies on small microenterprises fire disaster
management and practice in Ethiopia.

The results suggest that human influence combined with dynamics of vegetation and fuels
strongly influenced fire occurrence in Ethiopia, indicating that geographic variation in cultural
fire practices was highly influential and relatively unchanging between 2001 and 2018. In
contrast, interannual variability in total burned area was strongly related to climate and the
influence of climate on fuel abundance. Our results highlight that climate can strongly influence
short-term variability in fire activity even as longer-term patterns may depend more strongly on
human influence (harris et al. , 2023)
2.3. Conceptual framework
Framework of fire risk
assessment.

Source:Guokai Li et al (15 November 2023)

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