By Deng Athian
Fire that gutted Maper Market, Aweil town of Northern Bahr El Ghazal state, last week, destroyed goods worth 148 million South Sudanese pounds, the municipal council has reported.
Aweil town Mayor, Zachariah Dut Mou formed a committee comprised of seven members to investigate the fire outbreak, that erased the market.
The committee, headed by the Director of Civil Defense Force, NBGs, revealed in its findings that 89 shops were confirmed destroyed, and 4 people injured.
“These four people injured were caught in a fire while trying to rescue their goods. Two of them have been discharged from the hospital and two with severe injuries are still being treated,’’ town Mayor Dut revealed.
Mose Bak Dut, a businessman whose goods were burnt said it would be difficult for many businesspeople to recover from the losses.
“The market is now an ash, and this is serious, very serious because some of us will not be able to recover to return to the market,’’ he cried.
The committee formed had presented the findings and recommendations, and these included urging the government to support the most affected businessmen.
“If the government can allocate some funding to support these businesspeople, it will be a great thing. The UN and humanitarian on economic development can check their budgets or lobby for more to at least support the affected the businesspeople of Maper fire incident,’’ the recommendation stated.