Scores of people lost their lives 5th November 2021 due to fire, from an oil tanker explosion, as yet another tragedy has struck Sierra Leone.

There are harrowing story's emerging from Freetown, Sierra Leone. Yesterdays explosion is reported to have taken the lives of at least 92 people and left many other casualties suffering from severe burns following an oil tanker explosion. The countries poorly funded hospitals and healthcare system will struggle to adequately treat the injured. There will not be a well equipped burns unit. The Fire and Rescue Service will have tried their very best but struggled with the emergency response due to a lack of equipment and training. The real cause of this tragedy is poverty and poverty amplifies the impact of the accident itself. Following the collision, people were trying to syphon fuel from this tanker, and the whole neighborhood, men, women and children (hundreds of people) had gathered around to watch before it exploded. They did that because of poverty, because of a statistic like 70% for youth unemployment. People are hungry and around 60% of the population lives below the national poverty line. This accident has affected the most vulnerable people that community. The stories I am hearing are both harrowing and heartbreaking. Lives lost, lives changed forever. A country simply unable to cope. Emergency services unable to adequately respond.

Over 700 million people in our world currently live in extreme poverty. Poverty affects every aspect of a person’s life and holds back human potential. Poverty negatively impacts life in so many ways. Sadly global poverty is set for the first increase since 1998 due to COVID-19.

The real cause of this tragedy is poverty. Poverty amplifies the impact of the accident itself, while limiting the response, and hampering recovery.

Words cannot express how saddening this latest loss of life is, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families in Sierra Leone.

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