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In brief
- United Nations in Somalia reported on 9 April 2022 that it interviewed Zainab Hassan Warsame after the Waheen market fire destroyed her boutique and the income supporting ten people.
- The same report attributes preliminary loss estimates of $1.5 billion to $2 billion to Somaliland's response committee.
- The report sets out a UN inter-agency damage assessment and says a joint assessment report would be finalised in the coming days.
Contents
United Nations in Somalia reported on 9 April 2022 that it had interviewed Zainab Hassan Warsame after the fire that destroyed the Waheen market in Hargeisa. In the account published a week after the blaze, she said her boutique stocked and sold clothes and that ten people's livelihoods depended on it, including her elderly parents, her children and her daughters' children.
What the source records
The report quotes Warsame stepping through the ashes of her boutique: she was the only breadwinner, the business fed ten people, and it is gone. It also quotes Mohamed Abdullahi Muhamoud saying his business fed his entire family and is completely destroyed. The same account states that about 5,000 businesses, from large stores to small stalls, once sat in the market. According to Somaliland's response committee, preliminary estimates of total losses ranged between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, and the report notes scarcity and inflation in Hargeisa. Read the full account at United Nations in Somalia.
What it means on site
For traders planning a rebuild, the recorded mechanism is simple: a stock-heavy business holds most of its value in goods and fittings that a fire can consume in one event, and the report records no stock or structure insurance behind these losses. The documented consequence is lost working capital and a need to re-stock, not just to re-roof. A buyer or tenant can ask a landlord or market office what fire separation and water supply exists at a stall row, and can keep a written stock list and photographs of premises and stock. How far any of that changes a rebuild brief depends on the assessment outcome, which this source does not give.
What the source does not establish
The report records an assessment in progress. It says the UN deployed an inter-agency team of technical experts, that the team visited the site and met ministers and the response committee, and that a joint assessment report would be finalised in the coming days for a donor meeting in Nairobi. Loss totals were preliminary. The source does not establish the ignition cause, any contractor or building responsibility, or the current condition of the market, the stalls or the businesses described.
What to do next
Ask the Hargeisa municipal office or the market's response committee for the joint assessment report and any fire-safety or rebuilding requirements it led to, and ask a supplier for written quotes for any replacement stock or stall structure before committing money.
Frequently asked questions
Where did the loss figures in the report come from?
United Nations in Somalia attributes the preliminary range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion in losses to Somaliland's response committee, the body set up to lead relief and reconstruction planning.
Does the report say what started the Waheen market fire?
No. The account records the damage, the interviews and the assessment work, and does not establish the ignition cause.
Sources
Local reporting: this article is written for building work in Somaliland. Ground conditions, prices and rules differ between places; confirm the details for your own site.