Investigating Factors That Predict Community Vulnerability to Urban Fire: The Case of Bahir-Dar City

It is well understood that the masters program on disaster risk science and sustainable development is the first in its type and status in Ethiopia. Accordingly, problems from hazards, vulnerabilities and disasters have not yet been touched from study and prevention perspectives. This situation has forced the country to stay under drastic effects of continuous and shifting/concurrent disasters without proactive and adaptive measures. As a result, we are mostly submissive to hazardous phenomena and their effects of economic, social, natural and political deterioration those jointly have loaded serious impoverishment over us. The case of fire disasters occurred at Bahir Dar city in 2008 that devastated huge amount of property (estimated in many millions of birr) and consequently worsened the life of many thousands of people, among the other previous fire events, is concrete evidence of the above mentioned problem. The lack of study made on fire especially on urban fire, its destructive events and even its incidence, has compelled me to do this research to solve the problem that has been mistakenly considered as having been controlled and, hence, obscured with covers of ideally existing resistant buildings and reliable early warning system, particularly in developing countries.