We are devastated to report that a community member has passed away.
He was asleep when the fire started. He sustained fatal burns and died a few hours after he was taken to hospital.
Please take time out of your day to honor his life.
Cleanup
Since Thursday, at the request of market members and leadership groups, we have provided trucks to manage the debris from the fire. We also coordinated a payloader with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. The debris, including tons of burnt garments, was quickly moved to the edges of the market, but it will take time to haul these piles to the Adepa dumpsite.
We will continue to pay for trucks and a payloader for as long as is necessary. This costs over GHS 8,000 per day.
Emergency Support
Our team has set up 8 tents along with 100 chairs to provide shade and a place to rest for community members working hard in the heat and direct sun. Our team, including registered nurses, has made themselves available at these tents to provide first aid and to transport people to the hospital if necessary.
We have water, masks and other cold beverages available at these tents. Our team is also walking around to hand out these supplies. We have distributed thousands of masks along with thousands of water sachets and bottles for free.
The tents and chairs are sourced from a member of the Kantamanto community. While we are sourcing cases of water and masks outside of the market to secure items in bulk, we are also purchasing water and beverages from market vendors. We will continue to make every effort possible to source supplies from within the market ecosystem.
While we have offered to provide food, community members relay that this is not a priority and is not how they would like us to apply financial resources.
If you would like to donate water, ideally sachets, please DM us. Please be aware that community members are collecting the used sachets to recycle through local channels.
Medical Support
In addition to providing first aid at our tents, we are providing ongoing support to anyone who was injured or whose health is impacted. We are accompanying individuals to the hospital. We are covering hospital and medicine costs. We are following up to monitor health.
Because community members do not feel secure leaving the area in fear that they will lose their stall location, many people have inhaled noxious fumes and are ingesting dust as the fire smulders and debris kicks up air pollution. Some retailers are reporting chest pains and high blood pressure.
Our first report from Kantamanto Healthcare Outreach program indicates that 53% of participants have hypertension. In a survey conducted to inform our Kantamanto Healthcare Outreach program, 73% of retailers stated that Kantamanto’s air quality has negatively impacted their health. This was before the fire. Imagine the toll of the environmental and emotional stress brought on by this disaster.
Due to the increasing debt burden carried by retailers, most people working in Kantamanto cannot afford access to healthcare. In our most recent round of surveys reaching over 300 retailers in November 2024, 98% of retailers stated that they do not have access to healthcare. Not only do people not have the funding but they may, in many cases, not be familiar with navigating the healthcare system.
We expect hundreds more will require medical support in the coming weeks.
Rebuild
Over the last 18 months, our team has worked alongside Kantamanto community members completing numerous mini “upfit” projects, including new roofing and flooring, ramps and stairways, new aisleways with drainage and new electrical wiring. Today, we are working with market leadership on a plan to ensure basic fire safety and flood resistance is taken into account through the community’s rebuilding effort, which we are committed to supporting.
Fire Safety
As many of you have supported our efforts previously, we want to provide an update on the fire extinguishers.
Over the last two years we worked with market leadership to install fire extinguishers and we worked with the National Fire Service to train community members. Since the effort began, back in 2023 through December of 2024, these extinguishers were used at least seven times to stop other fires.
We have received confirmation that the fire extinguishers were successful in stopping the New Years Fire from advancing to the top of the market where many remanufacturers and tailors work.
We know that the fire extinguishers were deployed throughout the rest of the market but were unable to contain the blaze, which spread fiercely and rapidly. We will continue to investigate and we will discuss with the National Fire Service how to improve fire prevention and first response. This is in parallel to the previous point about working with leadership to incorporate fire safety into the rebuild.
Direct Relief
In tandem with the rebuild and rehabilitation efforts, we are committed to dispersing direct relief to community members so they can get back on their feet. With an estimated 10,000 people being impacted, this will be a massive undertaking. We have committed an initial $1Million USD and are actively fundraising to ensure we can provide this direct relief holistically in a meaningful amount.
You can donate to supplement our efforts
Momo: +233(0)559852625
Donorbox: kantamanto.theor.org
Please note that all donations received at this time will be directed to this relief effort and will not overlap with our programmatic funding. 100% of funds contributed will go directly to the Kantamanto Community in support of the relief efforts.