Fire Aid member Operation Florian organised a workshop to build upon its work to promote greater understanding of fire risks within refugee camps and informal settlements.

Fire Aid member Operation Florian, in partnership with the University of Manchester Migration Lab, recently organised a workshop to build upon its work to promote greater understanding of fire risks within refugee camps and informal settlements.

The workshop brought together researchers from a wide range of specialist disciplines such as fire engineering and disaster risk reduction, practitioners from Operation Florian and SARAID and shelter specialists from Save the Children and fire engineer expertise from ARUP. 

The event was intended to build upon the knowledge and skills that existed but begin to establish opportunities for further partnership opportunities for projects and research.

One of the major outcomes of the group was the decision to form a thematic working group amongst all of the attendees to continue to seek joint opportunities to understanding the issues more and imagine innovative solutions.

Operation Florian would like to make a special thanks to Cathy Wilcox and Tanja Muller for organising the event and John Twigg from the Overseas Development Institute who organised the first workshop in London last year to create a greater awareness to understanding risks and promoting safer solutions.

The event was covered in more detail by Laura Hirst, a PhD student from the University of Manchester, who is currently supporting Operation Florian in its work.

 Laura’s blog can be found at http://www.migrationlab.manchester.ac.uk/index.php/2017/05/18/fire-risk-reduction-in-informal-settlements-interrogating-evidence-imagining-solutions/