Underlying Causes of Urban Fire with a Case Study of Anaj Mandi Fire, Delhi, India

Fire is one of the crucial resources that helps human beings to satisfy their basic needs, but its transformation from a resource to a disaster inflicts a great negative impact. The occurrence of fire incidences in highly densely populated urban centres like Delhi is very common and repetitive. Anaj Mandi fire disaster of December 2019 was very devastating as more than 45 people lost their lives. Further, thousands of people’s lives and livelihood got impacted adversely. The immediate cause was a short circuit in the electric meter, but there were numerous other factors that directly or indirectly helped in the development of the Anaj Mandi fire. In this research work, it has been highlighted how various institutions, communities, owners, locals and individuals were responsible for this. This work provides a comprehensive view of how intentionally or unintentionally any disaster takes place due to the lack of amenableness of the responsible population.