JOURNALS

ABSTRACT

Crisis is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group or all of a society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when they occur abruptly, with little or no warning. Over the years, the bulk of the society has been kept in the dark about the causes and effects of the fire disasters in the Ochanja market and the Onitsha main market of 1984. This paper is an attempt to bring to the fore, the causes of the markets fire disaster and the plausible way of avoiding a recurrence. The methodology of this paper is based on descriptive analysis of available data, using primary and secondary sources. The findings of the paper indicate that the Ochanja and Onitsha Main Markets fire disasters of 1984 wrecked a lot of havoc on the traders, leading massive loss of goods and alteration in the people’s daily affairs. The study recommends among other things, the placement of fire extinguishers at strategic points of the markets, provision of fire service vehicles in the markets, and the removal of illegal structures in the markets.