Approach to Fire-Related Disaster Management in High Density Urban-Area

The first step to make any disaster plan for any urban area facilities, (such as any firm or industry), is to identify and mitigate the condition that might have caused the disaster. Karachi is one of the mega cities of Pakistan, having 18 large Towns which unplanned and internal conflict areas produced due to political instability and influence are involved. Unfortunately there are no comprehensive studies or statistical data that is available about the fire prevention emergency plans and disaster management plans for the commercial areas of Karachi. Using the case study of Baldia town factory, Karachi, this paper provides an approach to understand the system faults and the importance of development of a disaster management plan for an industrial unit. It recommends the co-ordination between various infrastructure facilities and Rescue agencies as well as government institutions. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd.