Citation

Okunola OH. Int. J. Emerg. Manage. 2019; 15(4): 299-315.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Inderscience Publishers)

DOI

10.1504/IJEM.2019.104195

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The frequency and occurrence of natural, technological and man-induced disasters are increasing in Nigeria. The trends and patterns of these occurrences are scarcely accessed in literature. This paper focuses on types, occurrences and causes of disasters in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kaduna, Nigeria. Data were collected by administering questionnaires and conducting in-depth interviews (IDIs) with disaster stakeholders (residents, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) personnel and victims of disaster) in disaster-prone areas of the selected cities.

RESULTS indicated that fire outbreak, flood, building collapse and windstorm have been major threats to lives and properties in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kaduna, Nigeria. Also, factors such as overpopulation, poor governance, erections of weak structure, unplanned urban spread and unenforced physical planning policy worsen the issue. These results among others contributed to our understanding of causes and trend of disasters in a typical developing country.

Keywords: disasters; trend; statistics; flood; fire outbreak; building collapse; Nigeria.

Language: en