Jàmbá - Journal of Disaster Risk Studies ISSN: (Online) 2072-845X, (Print) 1996-1421 Page 1 of 10 Original Research Thohoyandou’s central business district and the hypothetical accessibility challenges for emergency services Author: Thohoyandou is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa, with a population of Godfrey Anyumba1 69 453 according to 2011 Census. It has rapidly filled up the spatial limits of its central Affiliation: business district (CBD) to such an extent that the latest retail development, the Thavhani 1Department of Urban and Mall, has leapfrogged the P-East residential area into the open spaces to the south of the Regional Planning, School CBD across the R 254. The objective of this study was to determine if emergency services - of Environmental Sciences, University of Venda, that is, police, ambulance and fire brigade - could access all parts of the CBD in a hypothetical Thohoyandou, South Africa situation of multiple disasters occurring simultaneously. The study method mapped the CBD’s urban morphological elements and determined, through qualitative descriptions, Corresponding author: Godfrey Anyumba, the frictional spaces each of the emergency services would face in attempting to access all anyumba.go@gmail.com parts of the CBD. The findings were, firstly, that in a ‘worst case scenario’ the emergency services would face formidable infrastructure, human and mobility obstacles in their Dates: Received: 11 June 2018 pathways. The second finding is that the emergency services would not be able to cope with Accepted: 12 June 2018 a high-impact disaster or a multiplicity of disasters. The study identified precautions that Published: 24 June 2019 should be considered by the municipality and other stakeholders in order to mitigate the How to cite this article: potential risks of human-induced disasters in the CBD. Anyumba, G., 2019, Keyword: Central Business District; Urban Morphology; Emergency Services; Accessibility; ‘Thohoyandou’s central business district and the Disasters; Mitigation. hypothetical accessibility challenges for emergency services’, Jàmbá: Journal of Introduction Disaster Risk Studies 11(2), a681. https://doi.org/ Thohoyandou is a small town in the northern part of Limpopo province in South Africa, with 10.4102/jamba.v11i2.681 a population of 69 453 people as per 2011 Census. This article is about a localised scale Copyright: of potential man-made disasters in the town’s central business district (CBD). The article © 2019. The Authors. takes on the concept of disaster risk management from the perspective of urban design. Licensee: AOSIS. This work It seeks to illustrate how an evolved urban fabric may lead to a gradual closing is licensed under the Creative Commons of accessibility options for emergency services when a disaster risk is looming. The article Attribution License. argues that urban morphology and patterns of human activities will impact the ability of civilian emergency services to function as intended. The value of this type of disaster management study lies in its propensity to point out, at the conceptual level, the basis of hazard mitigation plans. In a study on the risk and vulnerability of South African settlements, Van Huyssteen, Le Roux and Van Niekerk (2013) pointed out the need for an integrated ‘place-specific’ approach to disaster risk and management. This vulnerability awareness building process may contribute to local authorities adopting more robust town planning schemes and urban design frameworks. The results of the present study specifically inform accessibility pathway challenges for emergency services. Within the disaster risk and disaster management discourse, the former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan (2002), observed amongst others that: Communities will always face natural hazards, but today’s disasters are often generated by, or at least Read online: exacerbated by human activities [...]. Poor land-use planning; environmental management; and a lack of Scan this QR regulatory mechanisms both increase the risk and exacerbate the effects of disasters. (p. 1) code with your smart phone or mobile device From these observations this article construes its rationale for an urban-focused disaster risk and to read online. disaster management theme. http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 2 of 10 Original Research For the purposes of contextualising its aims, this article by the problem statement, the purpose of the study, the adopts the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster methodology used and an urban morphological analysis. Reduction (UNISDR) definition of vulnerability, which is A hypothetical ‘worst case scenario’ emergency is built in (Annan 2002): as the method of determining the risks that emergency [T]he potential for loss (human, physical, economic, natural, or services would face. The obstacles to the three emergency social) due to a hazardous event. It is the characteristics and services are individually determined. The study rounds off circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it the investigations by presenting a cluster of emergency susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard. (n.p.) services accessibility challenges, disaster mitigation measures and the conclusions. A framework for disaster risk management was developed at the 2005 World Conference on Disaster Reduction. It is Genesis of Thohoyandou’s central stated that the framework was developed in the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005–2015): Building the Resilience of business district Nations and Communities to Disasters. It was summarised by a The study location, CBD, is a relatively small but intensively five-point ‘to do’ list (see Table 1). built up area. It covers an area of approximately 70 ha (see Figure 1). The central theme of this article adopted part of an extract from the second of the five Hyogo Framework for Action themes, The structure of Thohoyandou’s CBD is inextricably linked which states that (Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015): to the urban history of the town. According to VhaVenda The starting point for reducing disaster risk and for promoting History (n.d.), Thohoyandou town was established on a a culture of disaster resilience lies in the knowledge of the portion of the Mbaleni village. The more or less grid structure hazards and the physical, social, economic and environmental of the CBD had its beginnings in 1977. The initial government vulnerabilities to disasters that most societies face, and of the buildings were erected with the establishment of the Republic ways in which hazards and vulnerabilities are changing in the of Venda in 1979, to the north of the present CBD. For many short and long term, followed by action taken on the basis of that years the CBD contained other government services, such as knowledge. (p. 7) the post office, police station, courts, as well as wholesale and This study is limited to the case of identifying and accessing retail outlets, taxi ranks and bus stations. disaster risks at Thohoyandou’s CBD. During the Venda Republic era, the CBD and the The article adopts the viewpoint that a man-made disaster neighbouring residential areas were demarcated through would be constituted if an ‘out of control’ human-induced the work of South African consultants supported by situation was to occur with the consequent loss of life and South African Government finances. Dr Nethengwe the destruction of property. However, there are no records (pers. comm. 23 February 2015), a long-time resident of of disasters, such as riots or multiple robberies of banks Thohoyandou, confirmed the above facts. However, what or malls, in the history of Thohoyandou’s CBD. However, has been consistent in the CBD’s physical demarcation is there have been several serious fires that destroyed the ring road that separates the CBD from the government Shoprite supermarket, Madina supermarket and Nandos buildings, the forest to its north, the wetland to the east and since the establishment of the CBD in 1977 (Dzebu 2006; the residential-come-business areas to the west (P-West) Tshikhudo 2008). and south (P-East) of the ring road. This article argues that police, ambulance and fire brigade Today the CBD is dominated by single- and two-level services need to access a settlement’s built fabric timely to buildings, with a few vacant erven (plots). There is very little execute their emergency functions. If the services’ ability to in terms of green areas in the CBD. Presently, the growth of penetrate the built form is compromised for any reasons, central Thohoyandou is unabated, with new building then the situation of disaster risk is greater. This is the construction evident outside of the CBD ring road. It can be rationale behind undertaking this investigation. surmised that the growth of the CBD has been undoubtedly positive for the banking, retail and wholesale sectors, as well The remainder of this article is organised as follows: firstly, as for the informal street traders. the genesis of Thohoyandou’s CBD is presented, followed Like many former R 239 towns, Thohoyandou has no street TABLE 1: Hyogo Framework for Action disaster mitigation themes. names to speak of. The absence of precise geographical place Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters and street nomenclature presents problems for emergency 1. Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with a strong services, not to mention the ordinary citizen. Figure 2 presents institutional basis for implementation 2. Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and early warning the CBD place nomenclature. 3. Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels Problem statement 4. Reduce the underlying risk factors 5. Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels The problem statement of this study is based on a ‘worst case Source: UNISDR 2009 scenario’, where a multiplicity of human-induced disasters http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 3 of 10 Original Research Source: Spot 2012 FIGURE 1: Thohoyandou central business district 2012. Purpose of the study Legend The purpose of this study was to ascertain the extent to CBD place nomenclature which the current spatial footprint would act as impediments to the access of any parts of the CBD for emergency services. Built form In other words: does the situation enhance or diminish the effectiveness of emergency services in executing their functions in disaster risk reduction? Methodology The study methodology consisted of several approaches. Firstly, an urban morphology approach with specific reference to figure-ground spatial mapping was undertaken for (1) the underlying erven structure, (2) the built form, (3) open spaces and parking spaces, (4) street-level obstacles 1:3600 and (5) street trading areas. The purpose of the application of this approach was to determine how the properties inherent in the above morphological schemata may impact FIGURE 2: Central business district place nomenclature. CBD, central business district. emergency vehicular and pedestrian accessibility to all parts of the CBD. occur concurrently. The question is as follows: would the Secondly, a ‘worst case scenario’ under which the three emergency services gain the requisite level of accessibility emergency services would find themselves was constructed into Thohoyandou’s CBD? Thus, the problem statement is to test the ability of the services to deliver under stressful hypothetical. emergency conditions. http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 4 of 10 Original Research Thirdly, all service providers, that is, police, ambulance large footprint. Geo Ville defines building footprint as ‘the and fire brigade, were examined in terms of their aerial visible first floor projection at grade to the edge of built accessibility within the CBD. Notes were taken of any area including conditioned and non-conditions spaces: living particular characteristics that hindered their full coverage area, decks, garages, porches, etc.’ (Geo Ville n.d.:n.p.). of the CBD. The built form Lastly, a matrix was constructed highlighting the hazards The built form is the shape of a building (concrete footprint) generated in a worst case scenario. Open-ended interviews as it sits astride its erf/plot. The built form of Thohoyandou’s with some of the service providers were also undertaken. CBD illustrates several features. The majority of buildings tend to have a comparatively large footprint. Buildings on Urban morphological analysis the whole are ‘stand-alone’ or ‘detached’ in configuration. Buildings have considerable length and shallow depth. Most A figure-ground approach to the Thohoyandou CBD was of the buildings are configured with two or three interfaces constructed from a 2012 Thohoyandou BA Locality Map. (frontages) with streets (see Figure 4). Urban morphology construction depicted underlying properties of each element of urban form as they apply in The impacts of the built forms and urban fabric for ‘emergency the CBD. services penetration’ vary according to the sizes of buildings and their layout. For example, larger buildings present The underlying erven structure potential challenges for the firefighting dousers to reach their Except for the north-east of the CBD where the erven or plots mid or upper levels, while buildings with smaller footprints are triangular, the rest are rectangular and square in shape. are better predisposed to coverage by emergency services. There are three basic sizes that can be categorised as (1) small-sized erven (150 m2–1800 m2), (2) medium-sized Open spaces and parking spaces erven (2100 m2–8500 m2) and (3) large-sized erven (9000 m2– There is very little left of green open spaces in Thohoyandou’s 19 000 m2) (see Figure 3). CBD; however, open and parking spaces can play both positive and negative roles in a disaster situation. Either The rule of thumb is that the smaller the erven, the smaller space can be utilised to set up temporary placements, for the corresponding footprint of buildings that can be erected example, landing spot for an aerial evacuation, a detention on them and the greater the accessibility of services, all other centre for riot control or a space for a tented clinic, etc. factors being equal, from its street frontage and backyard, etc. However, open space vacancy may attract unwarranted The larger size erven are ideal for the erection of large crowds during a disaster. Their spatial distribution is shown buildings, such as shopping malls, police stations and in Figure 5. municipality buildings, or for their open space designation as ceremonial or public squares. Car parking spaces that run parallel to streets normally tend to be fully occupied with vehicles by mid-morning. The majority of Thohoyandou’s erven sizes are large and However, there are also illegal parking ‘extensions’ the implications are that the majority of buildings are of a by desperate vehicles seeking space. A second type of Legend Built form Legend erf/erven 1:3600 1:3600 FIGURE 3: Underlying erven structure. FIGURE 4: The built form of buildings in the central business district. http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 5 of 10 Original Research Legend Skip bins Legend Gates Open space Narrow paths Parking spaces Fences Buildings Poor payvement disign 1:3600 1:3600 FIGURE 5: Open spaces and parking spaces. FIGURE 6: Street obstacles in the central business district. parking space represents those clustered in areas adjacent Poor street furniture such as street lamps, narrow streets, to large shopping malls. Examples include car parking manhole covers higher than the street level and steep stepped space next to Game or Shoprite at Venda Plaza. With pavements are obstacles that have rendered parts of the CBD their normally high occupancy rates, parking spaces inaccessible to certain sizes of equipment and people. would present obstacles to emergency services. Taxi ranks and the bus terminal are characterised by recurring A number of overflowing skip bins are a fire hazard because overspill onto the ring road that disrupts normal traffic of the exposed combustible wastes contained therein. circulation. These traffic movements would definitely Another fire hazard is the timber placed in front of hardware impede the movement of emergency services into the stores that are also obstacles to pedestrian movement along interior of the CBD. pavements. The verges of car parks in the CBD are occupied by street Street trading traders, who are strategic in their choice of locations Despite their recognised contribution to South Africa’s (Anyumba 2001; Tapela 1999). The practice of occupying economy (Smith 2014), under the present circumstances these spaces is prevailed throughout the CBD. Street traders street trading organisations in the CBD that are licensed to and their portable street furniture would be obstacles to the occupy certain spaces would nevertheless be an obstacle to movement of people and vehicles during emergencies. emergency services. Figure 7 illustrates the extent of street trading activities that occupy the above referred spaces. Street-level obstacles In the CBD, there are physical immobile street-level Assessing Thohoyandou central business obstacles that would be a nuisance to the movement of district’s accessibility emergency service providers’ equipment and vehicles. Litman (2015) highlights the fact that accessibility is Potential obstacles include (1) cul-de-sac and one-way interpreted in different ways in different disciplines. The streets, (2) fences and gates and (3) poor placement of street study’s adopted definition is the meaning ascribed by furniture (see Figure 6). ‘geography and urban economics’… where, ‘accessibility refers to the relative ease of reaching a particular location or In the CBD, there is a single ‘cul-de-sac’ south of the police area’ (Litman 2019). Litman notes that land use planners station and a one-way street to its north. The consequences of generally focus on geographic accessibility, that is, distances cul-de-sac and the one-way street are that emergency services between activities. must in advance be aware of where their locations are and maybe make use of them in an emergency. This article asserts that no part of Thohoyandou’s CBD should be beyond the accessibility requirements of emergency Possibly the most common permanent obstacles are the services. If any service cannot access a certain area where it fences (1.5 m high) and gates within the west of the CBD. needs to render its services, then it is failing and thus may not This was not a feature of the town centre until recently. In an be able to respond to the disaster it is called upon to control emergency, these features could prove to be formidable and eliminate. For the purposes of this study, the accessibility obstacles for the movement of equipment and emergency requirements are defined under each of the emergency personnel. services in the following sections. http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 6 of 10 Original Research Legend Legend Street trading CBD entrance Built form Police pathways 1:3600 1:3600 FIGURE 8: Police pathways. CBD, central business district. FIGURE 7: Street trading areas. police would depart from the police station and (2) the Worst case disaster scenario police could approach any part of the CBD from any vantage This article assumes the conditions of worst case scenario, point using the CBD ring road. The police pathways which include multiple disasters during a hypothetical (Figure 8) shows that foot patrols and vehicles would be in festive season when the CBD is characterised by the following a position to penetrate any part of the CBD. There are 23 conditions occurring simultaneously over a number of drivable entries into the CBD: four from the north, three daytime hours: from the east, eight from the south and eight from the west. The number of foot patrol entrance points into the CBD is Legal and illegal car parks occupy 99% of spaces, the taxi beyond counting. ranks and the bus terminus are in grid lock, and festive people occupy 90% of left-over pedestrian spaces. Furthermore, there Nevertheless, a number of physical and human obstacles, are a great number of physically challenged people in every such as fences, closed gates, narrow lanes, cul-de-sac, crowds street in a celebratory mood, and street traders are occupying of people, mobile and parked motor vehicles, taxi ranks and all the open spaces they can access for maximum trading buses and buildings, could conceal dangers as the SAPS opportunities. Meanwhile, robberies by well-armed and criss-crosses the CBD (see Table 2). violent gangs are going on in two of the largest shopping malls and there were five substantial fires started by arsonists in street bins and shop fronts with flammable materials. Last Ambulance services but not least, some security commander has ordered the Complicating the role of ambulance services and the CBD closing of all gates to contain the situation. situation is that there is no hospital or a large medical facility within Thohoyandou’s CBD. Therefore, any ambulance In the following sections, the study points out the extent to attending to the needs of the CBD population would have to which the three emergency services would be able to reach drive from (1) the University of Venda Clinic (5–7 min drive any point in the CBD. away), (2) Tshilidzini Hospital (8–10 min drive away) and (3) Donald Frazer Hospital (30–45 min drive away) or Elim The South African Police Service Hospital (at least 1 h drive away). The South Africa Police Services (SAPS) station is strategically located in the centre-west of the CBD. Besides the assumption Figure 9 illustrates that there are a total of 15 possible entry that police officers should be able to penetrate and secure any points from the ring road for ambulances. There is one building or any open space, other expectations include the entrance in the northern ring road that accesses the built-up following: (1) that police officers would be either on foot area past its geographical centre and one from the east that patrol or driving police vehicles and (2) that the SAPS would almost crosses to the west of the CBD. be able to communicate effectively between themselves and can decipher any hostile communications in the environment The CBD shows that ambulances would face some serious (Anyumba 2003). obstacles arising from the configuration of the built form. Examples include the north-west corner of the CBD where an In evaluating the penetration of the physical structure of the ambulance would have to drive in circles to reach its CBD, the study investigated pathways for police foot patrols destination. To the south and south west, the continuously and police vehicles. Further assumptions were that (1) the built-up area acts as another set of barriers. A large part of the http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 7 of 10 Original Research TABLE 2: Hazards generated from ‘worst case scenarios’ for the police service. Emergency Emergency locality situation services Obstacles Circulation Hazardous materials/ Vertical Horizontal Visual-2D views Vehicle Pedestrians conditions Urban Fences (1.5 m), walls and Steps and road and Obtrusive buildings, structures Uncontrolled vehicular High human shopping Potholes, abandoned morphological open spaces building surface and mature trees traffic and legal and and street trader kiosks and goods elements intrusions Cul-de-sac illegal parking densities Foot and vehicle Climbing and descending, Potholes slow traffic Street furniture and informal Traffic jam Human spatial friction Concealed traps patrol steep steps and crawling traders’ structures Parking spaces fully and the over walls occupied curiosity factor 2D, two-dimensional. (3) vehicles would have sufficient spread to cover any CBD building or open space. Legend CBD entrance Built form From the above cited interview of Mr Makumule, it is clear Ambulance pathways that fire engines are able to negotiate all the streets within the CBD (see Figure 10). The major obstacles that the fire engines would face when dowsing out fires would be crowd control and having to navigate through parked and moving vehicles. Mr Makumule also noted a number of challenges. Firstly, the current water reticulation system does not function for 24 h a day because the water supply to the CBD is open during the day and gets turned off at night when it is empty of people, so that residential areas outside of the CBD can be supplied with water. Secondly, Nandoni 1:3600 dam, which started operations in 2005 and has a water capacity of 164 million cubic meters, is still to be connected FIGURE 9: Ambulance pathways. CBD, central business district. to provide a more permanent supply of water to the CBD and other parts of Thohoyandou. Each building is required CBD would require ambulance personnel to move with by regulation to have fire extinguishing equipment. A rapid stretchers and medical equipment on foot. Other problem visual assessment of the buildings in the area revealed that areas are summarised in Table 3. the required firefighting equipment was generally not in place. However, some fire extinguishers were clearly visible Fire brigade in a number of newer buildings in the CBD. Other problem Vhembe District Municipality is responsible for this service. areas are outlined in Table 4. Thohoyandou’s CBD has had several significant fires in the recent past that destroyed several retail and food Accessibility challenges in the central business outlets. These include the Shoprite building that was burnt district down in 2006, Nandos restaurant in 2008 (Tshikhudo 2008) and a hardware store south of Game in 2013. It is claimed From the urban morphological analysis, field observations that the causes of all these fires were related to electrical and interviews, it became apparent that the three emergency faults. services would struggle to successfully meet the ‘worst case scenario’ accessibility requirements outlined above. In 2015, the fire brigade had three functional fire engines, two of which were less than five years old and one was much Accessibility challenges common to all the three services older than the other two. When interviewed on 08 February include physical barriers, densities of parked vehicles, traffic 2017, Mr T.M. Makumule, a former Vhembe District jam and the human curiosity factor (on part of shopkeepers, municipal manager, stated that the fire engines did not street traders and the general public). These human- require ladders as the tallest building in the region was only induced barriers could definitely result in unwarranted three floors high. It was noted that the fire engines had an interference with emergency service providers’ work and internal water capacity of 8000 L each. pace of movement. The CBD has three fire hydrants located at (1) the old Shoprite Whilst the fire brigade shares the common constraints shopping complex at the centre of the CBD, (2) the UIF noted above, the brigade as presently constituted would Building to the east of the CBD and (3) Game to the west of encounter the following problems. The first is that if the CBD. Because the fire station is located to the southwest fires were to break out in those parts of the CBD that have of the CBD, the other assumptions are that (1) fire brigade no fire hydrants (and there are only three in the entire vehicles would approach the CBD from the R524, (2) that CBD), this would present immense firefighting difficulties. vehicles would be able to reach each fire hydrant and Further complications would arise if the fire hydrants are http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 8 of 10 Original Research TABLE 3: Hazards generated from ‘worst case scenarios’ for ambulances. Emergency Emergency site situation Services Obstacles Circulation Hazardous Vertical Horizontal Visual-2D views Vehicle Pedestrian conditions/materials Urban Fences (1.4 m), walls and Steep steps, building and Obtrusive buildings, Lack of street names High human shopping and street Intoxicating fumes morphological open spaces, Bollards surface/path intrusions streetscapes and trader densities elements landscapes Vehicles - Potholes slow emergency Unable to determine Vehicle passages, Accident curiosity factors slow vehicle movement traffic, may cause injuries situation in the third spaces for parking to evacuees dimension and orientation issues Portable Equipment may be Wade through steep Emergency crews Street furniture and ‘Help’ from the public may There may be equipment damaged or too heavy to stepped streets unfamiliar with informal traders’ obtrude mission insufficient equipment carry by non-motorised layout may be lost structures slow to deal with the means in the streets emergency vehicles numbers of people and personnel requiring attention 2D, two-dimensional. equipment, public warning systems, crowd control (practicing of emergency drills and open spaces). Legend CBD entreance Built form Building plan approval Fire engine pathways When building plan approval is undertaken, in the CBD and elsewhere, emphasis should be given to the fact that the challenges identified above, that is, unhindered accessibility of emergency services, are addressed. Thus, building approval must consider the building footprints with adjacent existing or planned buildings and with open spaces. In other words, plan approval should not only consider the architectural and the land use plans but also the total conceivable urban design of a planned situation. 1:3600 Street design Certain streets in the CBD require interventions to ensure FIGURE 10: Fire engine pathways. CBD, central business district. increased safety of pedestrians, especially physically handicapped persons. A section of the CBD that sells timber dry! Still the fire engines would have 2000 L – 6800 L water and hardware goods should perhaps be relocated, where in their tanks for the emergency; however, if this source of offloading bay for articulated trucks can be accommodated. water is exhausted, then such a vehicle would need to refill Otherwise, these large trucks tend to block streets when its tank – a process that has to take place outside of the parked or when offloading freight. CBD. If there is no water in the CBD and in the adjacent neighbourhoods, then the last recourse would be to drive Vehicle control to Nandoni dam, a distance of 18 km from the CBD. Last Visual circumspection shows that the CBD has definitely but not least, if there are more than three fire incidents at run out of public parking space, with peak parking time the same time, then the full capacity of the fire brigade extending from 10:00 to 17:00. Parking and movement would be exhausted and help would be required from within these spaces are a challenge, with vehicles spilling Louis Trichardt in Makhado Municipality, a distance of out into the local and distributor roads in the CBD. Private 70 km and at least 1 h drive. vehicles, taxis and buses tend to block traffic. The Thulamela Traffic Police must find a means to control the present Disaster mitigation measures situation. Developers should consider feasibility studies for In the above sections, we have identified and assessed building multilevel car parks in the CBD. some of the disaster risks that the three emergency services would face in a worst case scenario in Thohoyandou’s CBD. Emergency equipment Mitigation measures are actions that aim to completely erase As part of disaster mitigation, the three emergency service or reduce the severity of disasters. providers should define equipment that would assist in executing their functions, which need to be in place in the CBD. The following disaster mitigation measures are suggestions These may include public address systems and surveillance that are informed by the urban morphology and human systems linked to the police services, ambulances and the situational analysis expounded above, which the district fire brigade. Other equipment, as required by law, should and local municipalities, the emergency services and all be enforced. These may include fire extinguishers, more water stakeholders should take cognisance of, including building hydrants and first-aid kits, etc. Such equipment should be plan approval, street design, vehicle control, emergency strategically located in public places within the CBD. http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 9 of 10 Original Research TABLE 4: Hazards generated from ‘worst case scenarios’ for the fire brigade. Emergency Emergency site situation services Obstacles Circulation Hazardous Vertical Horizontal Visual-2D views Vehicle Pedestrian conditions/materials Morphological Fences (1.4 m), walls and Lengthy or bulky Unable to determine Lack of street names High human shopping and street Solid waste materials elements open spaces, bollards, buildings situation in the third Parked vehicles trader densities on pavements tall buildings (three level) dimension Vehicles - Potholes slow emergency Smoke concealment Ability to turn into People curious about fires may Combustible materials traffic and may cause Obtrusive buildings confined sites slow fire engine movement and in streets injuries to patients endanger themselves Portable Street/ pavement levels Street barriers – fencing Smoke concealment - Unhelpful curiosity factor The lack of equipment equipment to deal with hazards Site Equipment Water hydrants - - - - - malfunction 2D, two-dimensional. Public warning systems Response in a Changing Global Environment’, 02–04 March There should be alarm systems that could alert the public on 2015, at the Ranch Resort, Polokwane, South Africa. The impending disaster or a state of emergency. Such a system conference was jointly hosted by the School of Environmental should be located in strategic public places. Sciences, University of Venda, South Africa and the National Disaster Management Centre (representing Department of Crowd control: Practice of emergency drills Cooperative Governance), South Africa. Mr Tendayi Gondo, Prof. Agnes Musyoki and Mr Edmore Kori were the faculty In building public awareness, the relevant authorities should collaborators. undertake the practice of emergency evacuation drills from time to time. By undertaking such exercises, the population in the CBD can be educated to conduct themselves in the The author acknowledges the pivotal role of the Dean of the correct and safe manner. School of Environmental Science who threw up the challenge to staff members to write articles on the theme of disaster risk and management in 2015. Credit must be also given to Open spaces Mr Tsholofelo Lekalakala, a student of the Department Open spaces, both green and hard surface, should be of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Venda, who designated around clusters of buildings and/or shopping drew nine of the figures using AutoCAD 2013. areas that may become assembly points in the case of an emergency or a disaster. Competing interests Conclusions The author declares that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them Thohoyandou’s CBD has not experienced any civil unrest in writing this article. that has threatened life and property in its 40 years history. However, it has experienced several serious fires between 2006 and 2009. An urban morphological analysis of the Author’s contributions configuration and infrastructure in the CBD, as well as G.A. is the sole author of this article. observations of the characteristics of its street trade and vehicular parking, shows that the three civilian emergency services (i.e. police, ambulance and fire brigade services) Funding Information would face a range of obstacles that would slow the This research received no specific grant from any funding performance of these services if a serious disaster was to agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. break out. Under a theoretical ‘worst case scenario’ of a multiplicity of disasters occurring simultaneously, it was illustrated that the emergency services would have a Data availability statement difficult time gaining access to the disaster areas. The Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data study findings point to the need of a certain line of was created or analysed in this study. disaster mitigating policies, appropriate infrastructure and sensitising of the daytime occupants of the CBD in Disclaimer preparation for managing any disaster. The limitations of the study included the lack of expertise and time to quantify The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the frictional basis that would inhibit the deployment of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or emergency services successfully. position of any affiliated agency of the author. Acknowledgements Ethical consideration This paper was presented at the first National Conference The ethical considerations were (1) that this article is the on Disaster Risk Science and Management in ‘South Africa’s original work of the author, (2) that it is not plagiarised, http://www.jamba.org.za Open Access Page 10 of 10 Original Research (3) it is not a duplicate publication nor has it been published Hyogo Framework for Action, 2005–2015, Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters; Extract from the final report of the World Conference on in any other journal or media, (4) that the authors of sourced Disaster Reduction (A/CONF.206/6), viewed 12 February 2017, from http://www. information have been credited. unisdr.org/2005/wcdr/intergover/official-doc/L-docs/Hyogo-framework-for-action-english.pdf. 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