Effective Communication for Disaster Management and Livelihood Vulnerability Options: A Systematic Review

This paper presents a systematic review of relevant secondary materials on effective communication for disaster management. The paper undertook a copious review of secondary information on the concept of disaster risk communication and its ramifications on livelihood vulnerability, obtained from Google and other search engines data bases. Using the risk perception and planned behaviour theories, we espoused that the drivers of disasters and associated risks can be categorized into anthropogenic (human) and geogenic (natural) in nature. The discourse also revealed that individual’s ability to secure sustainable livelihood, determines their affinity to devote some time and resources towards the compliance of disaster risk information communicated. Since some of the measures of protecting investments and livelihoods could be capital intensive, respondents would, usually want to be gainful in their occupations, or upgrading in their existing jobs, before they could develop the resilient capabilities for disaster management. It can therefore be deduced that people’s vulnerability to risk is influenced largely by both gender and livelihood strategies. A stakeholder integration of efforts, based on the utility of the two theories espoused, should be the guiding framework in generating and disseminating risk communication among disaster risk stake-actors, in their scheme of affairs. keywords and phrases. The keywords and phrases used included; “disaster” “fire risk” “vulnerability” “risk perception theories” “communication” “disaster management” and “livelihood”. The search from the database resulted in 4,059 papers out of which 95 were selected and reviewed. The review was structured into themes and sub-themes that reflected on the topic under discussion.

Aboagye, D.,  Risk Perception and Disaster Management in the Savannah Region of Ghana International 2 Ajzen, I., and Fishbein, M. (2005). The influence of attitudes on behavior. International 3 Conner, M., and Sparks, P. (2005) Theory of planned behaviour and health behaviour.
International 4 Covello, V. and Sandman P. M. National

Theoretical support of the paper
The reviewed paper is predicated on two theories that support disaster risk communication and disaster management. These are the risk perception and planned behaviour theories.

2.1.1.Risk Perception Theory (RPT)
This theory holds that there are a variety of factors that influence the way people perceive risk. One of these factors, according to " McInnes (2005)", is the source of the risk (i.e. natural or human-made). That is, individuals normally pay particular attention to the nature and the cause(s) of a particular risk before decision on how to manage it is made. Usually, more attention is paid to naturally caused disasters compared to man-made caused disasters perhaps due to the perceptions people have for those disasters. That is people might pay more attention to risk information on natural disasters and easily accept or react quickly and positively to the message and vice versa. "McInnes (2005)" refers to this as a factor of agency because it shapes people's perceptions of risks. Thus, if individuals realize that something can be done to control their exposure to commercial fire events, they might seek for fire information to reduce the risk and vice versa based on the kind of trust they have for the source of the information.
Trust is the foundation of risk communication " (Infanti et al. 2013)". Therefore, any EFRC depends on the trust that both the public and the disaster managers/authorities have in either the information source(s) or among themselves. That is, if people get to know that the source(s) of fire risk information is credible, reliable and valid, they might react positively to the message to ensure EFRC and vice versa. The proponents of trust determination theory, for instance, hold the belief that when individuals are faced with difficulties or fed up, they commonly lose trust " (Covello et al. 2001)". This means that to ensure EFRC in commercial fire disaster management, both the authorities and the public need to establish trust and confidence between and among themselves in advance or prior to the occurrence of commercial fire outbreak so as to reduce the impact or cope with the situation.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)
The theory has gained popularity as one of the top-supported social psychological theories and extensively applied with respect to predicting the behavior of mankind (Ajzen, 2005;Chatzisarantis et al., 2007) or basically to explaining substantial magnitudes of intention and behavior (Sommer, 2011). The ideology of the proponent of this theory is actually in line with Fishbein's theory of reasoned action which emphasizes that people usually do what they intend to do and fail to do what they do not intend (Trafimow et al., 2002). In modeling the TPB in the study of attitudes, personality and behavior, for instance, Ajzen (2005) established a relationship between background factors (including personality, social and information variables) and intention formation and/or behavior. Although Wegner and Wheatley (1999) argue against the idea that intentions cause behavior, Ajzen and Fishbein (2005) believe strongly that intention is the sole determinant of behavior. Following the existence of its common predictive power (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980;Conner & Sparks, 2005), the theory of planned behaviour was adopted for the study to ascertain the action of the public when fire risk information is communicated to them.

3.1.Causes and ramifications of commercial fire disasters
In the known history, the intensification of fire disasters is linked to numerous factors including both natural and anthropogenic " (Arthur and Yeboah 2011;Ma, Tu, Zeng & Fang, 2019;Stern, O'Hern, Morse, Bishop & Kytömaa, 2017;Yan, Jiang, Zhou & Sun, 2017)". Naturally, fire is known to ignite only when the three combustion elements inter alia heat, oxygen and fuel come together and in right quantities "(Amoako 2014)". These three elements form a triangular shape usually referred to as the fire triangle. " Twumasi et al. (2013)" therefore opines that if any of these elements is taken out from the triangle, fire outbreak could be avoided. However, sometimes, it is difficult to do that in the Ghanaian central markets, especially when risk communication becomes ineffective. Thus, the open air nature of Ghanaian central markets, including the Kumasi Central Market, coupled with the congestions and the presence of inflammable goods as well as excessive heat from the weather normally pave way for these three elements to come together with ease to facilitate fire ignition.
Although many a time people do not aim to create disaster events, the situation normally calls for this. That is, naturally, disaster events are bound to occur. " Yeeles (2015)" therefore attributes the cause of disasters to the climate variability. To him, climatic conditions do not only determine economic productivity, especially in the African continent, but they also have a great influence on technological hazards. That is, climatic conditions such as hot temperature produce physiological discomfort that usually escalates aggression and anger. This actually is in line with the notion of "Niekerk (2005)" that naturally, climate induces disasters after realizing that rainfall triggers landslides. Likewise, high temperature brings hot and dry conditions that might also facilitate fire outbreaks in the central markets of Ghana in general and the central market of Kumasi to be specific. " Myers et al. (2004)" assert that physical gradient also has a great influence on the spread of fire, especially during its outbreak.
Contrary, " Yodmani (2000)" opines that disasters, including fire outbreaks, are not seen as extreme phenomena created solely by natural forces but also as manifestations of unresolved problems of development. This means that the escalation in disasters is related to an increase of people's vulnerability which is mainly influenced by development and inadequate management "(CRED 2015)". That is, the incapability of humankind to have solution for the numerous problems or hazard conditions in their environment results in disaster. Thus, rapid urbanization, low infrastructure, income disparity, lack of effective management and low local incentives for improvement usually cause disasters " (Bai and Imura 2000)" including commercial fire outbreaks.
Additionally, the actions and inactions of public could also be a contributing factor to fire outbreaks at market centres. Thus, the impacts of disasters are exacerbated by the rapid growth and unsustainable development practices around the world "(Alcántara-Ayala et al. 2015)". That is, the developmental activities in most instances trigger environmental hazards "(Niekerk 2005)" which could end up with fire disasters. At least the effects of overcrowding on fire impacts is known; however, how this overcrowding influences fire outbreaks has not been ascertained "(Oteng-Ababio and Osman 2012; Oteng-Ababio and Sarpong 2012)". All the same, the careless behaviour of some of the urban dwellers, especially smokers and drunkards, leads to fire outbreaks (Oteng-Ababio and Sarpong, 2012). Thus, whiles many people continue to be careless in the way they handle naked fires during and after smoking or cooking, others indulge in illegal electrification in the market centres which eventually ignite fires " (Abubakar 2012;Giwa 2012;Pang and Chow 2011)". This suggests that the actions and inactions of such people have direct or indirect influence on commercial fire disasters in diverse ways. That is, People's bad behaviours or attitudes and the strong beliefs they hold for their activities in the market centres also have influence on fire outbreaks in those areas.
"Sakijege, Lupala and Sheuya (2012)" also attribute the cause of disasters, including commercial fires, to the dwellers themselves. This means that the entire livelihoods of the dwellers can be considered as the contributing factor to both artificial and natural disasters. That is, human livelihoods generally contribute to the overwhelming hazards which could eventually turn to various disasters in the universe. This implies that the lifestyles of traders operating in the central markets of Ghana could be a contributing factor to the outbreaks of commercial fires in these geographical areas.
Although heating and cooking have actually been noticed as the leading cause of fire outbreaks in the market centres "(Seattle Fire Department 2006; Tyler 2006)", the inadequacy of public knowledge in dealing with fire emergencies also contribute to the spread of fire outbreaks "(Kachenje, Kahila and Nguluma 2010)". The educational level of individuals, therefore, has effect on fire disasters. That is, people with low educational background are less likely to grasp the full import of public fire education messages "(Fahy and Norton 1989 cited in Sarpong 2013)". This indicates that, in ensuring disaster management, including commercial fires, there is always a correlation between educational levels of individuals and EFRC from both the authorities and the public.
During his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, President Obama supported this notion by saying that "there is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement -all of which will fuel more conflict for decades" (cited in "Gleditsch 2012: 3"). This implies that humankind is indeed a major contributing factor to the global hazards which bring about numerous disaster events of which commercial fire is one. Additionally, both "Aboagye, Dari and Koomson (2013)" and "Dari, Aboagye and Koomson (2013)" postulate that natural events are not sufficient to explain human vulnerability to disasters; rather, social processes cause human vulnerability to disaster events such as commercial fire outbreaks. To them, these social processes include the culture, religion and the entire demographic background of dwellers living in a geographical area. That is, the attitude and behaviour of people in any geographical area is influenced by their traditional values and/or religious doctrines which sometimes bring about catastrophic phenomena such as commercial fire outbreaks.
" Wisner et al. (2006)", on the other hand, are of the view that governments rather need to be blamed for the occurrence of disaster events following their poorly planned development interventions for some communities, especially in cities in general and the commercial areas in particular. That is, the lack of infrastructure and limited opportunities for planning normally increase the vulnerability of the major population and economic centres "(Asian Disaster Preparedness Cente [ADPC], 2004)". That is, following their reluctance to have a development plan in the informal settlements in cities, governments can be identified as the major cause of flood and fire hazards in such areas " (Wisner et al. 2006)".
In Ghana, the inefficiency of governments' institutions to implement policies has given many people opportunities to have almost free access to the environment and eventually their activities end up with disasters such as commercial fire outbreak. That is, people's reluctance to abide by the fire regulations code (LI 1724) and the incapability of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to enforce such laws also contribute to fire outbreaks " (Amoako 2014)". "Jenninngs (1996" posits that areas with illegal electricity connections normally experience more fire outbreaks compared to areas with proper or legal connections; also buildings made up with planks are usually more prone to fire outbreaks than those made of blocks or metals. This lack of professionalism and the kind of materials people use to put up structures in the central market could be a contributing factor to the rampant fire outbreaks. In Mumbai, for instance, it was observed that pavement dwellers occupy about 70% of flood prone areas and yet received limited attention from the government both prior to and after a disaster " (Samaddar et al. 2012)". They further opine that it becomes understandably clear that the local government had no idea about the community's evacuation intention, preferred shelters, risk perception, response orientation and other existing stumbling blocks sought to be annihilated to instigate the evacuation strategy in a flood prone micro-hotspot in Mumbai. Thus, information on disaster risk and their management are not well communicated. This indicates how governments, over the years, have relaxed in their efforts to deal with disaster risk in some areas, including market centres.

3.2.Drivers of effective fire risk communication
Communication usually occurs in written (i.e. printed materials), verbal (i.e. face-to-face approach) and nonverbal/visual (i.e. electronic materials) modes. "Fekete (2012)", however, asserts that there are two main ways of risk communication -top-down and bottom-up. This means that the information on commercial fire risk could be disseminated to the public from the disaster managers or authorities and vice versa. "Hoppner (2010)", therefore, postulates that the channel of risk communication could either be a direct (face-to-face) or an indirect (mediated).
The choice of communication channel is thus guided by the purposes and functions of that communication as well as the direction mode -one-way or two-way "(Hoppner 2010)". Two-way communication, which Guanquan & Jinhua (2008) advocate and is being applied in this study, normally takes either a dialogical or non-dialogical form depending on actors' motive. The former is realised if actors indulge in interactive exchange of information while the latter is achieved if one actor consults the other for information "(Hoppner 2010)".
It is also believed that people's awareness with and accessibility to early warning information in their daily life and a community's preparedness prior to the occurrence of a disaster is known to be more effective in dealing with disaster risks " (Okada 2005)". However.it cannot be achieved without an effective means of communication. That is, with good channel of communication, the local people are made aware of the hazards that could lead to disasters. They can also access early warning information that will help to prevent or reduce the impact of the disasters, such as commercial fires, even if they occur unexpectedly.
In response to the 2008 seasonal forecast on disaster impact free in Ghana, for instance, a communication system was established to enable the circulation of information from the national Red Cross Society's (RCS) headquarters, to contact focal points in the regions, districts, and communities at risk. By this, the impact of disasters minimized to some extent " (Daly 2009)". This, at least, is an indication that an ERC does not only raise the awareness but it also ensures effective management of disasters for it helps to bring about low or no loss of life after their occurrences. This implies that the medium and the method of communicating commercial fire risk are essential for EFRC at the central market of Kumasi.
There are different ways through which information on risk is communicated to the local people before, during and after the occurrence of a disaster. "VanWesten and Kingma (2009)" identified massmedia (e.g. television, radio, newspapers, etc.), social media (e.g. facebook, tweeter, WhatsApp, etc.) and people (e.g. leaders, volunteers, and heads of group) as effective channel of communicating early warnings of disaster risks. In awareness creation, however, they recommend stand-alone print (including poster, billboard, warning signs, etc.), distribute print (e.g. leaflet, pamphlet, brochure, booklet, newsletter, etc.), postal or direct mailing, face-to-face (e.g. meeting, seminar, workshop, demonstration, training, etc.) and folk media (e.g. story, drama, music etc.) as the effective means of communication.
On the African continent, different channels are utilized for risk communication. In the community of Atiegou-Zogbeji located North of Lome, Togo, for example, "Braman (2009)" established that a community leader with a loudspeaker went through the flood-prone community to advise people to evacuate when riverbed water levels were realized to have reached dangerous levels. And after one and a half hours, the population of almost 2000 was able to evacuate to avoid death casualty, though physical damage occurred when the floodwaters arrived. Besides, disaster managers also reach the communities with transport buses to disseminate risk information and preventive measures directly to the vulnerable. This means of communication actually yielded a remarkable achievement in disaster management in Togo " (Tall et al., 2012)".
However, in Burkina Faso, it is found that although cellular phone text messages are utilized in disseminating early warning information to the public to ensure disaster management, its effectiveness has not been felt much since many people are incapable of accessing the information " (Tall et al. 2012)". That is, those, especially the marginalized, who do not own cellular phones would not be able to benefit from this channel of communication hence denied from adhering to the directives of the information. In the same way, those who do not own or have access to other electronic means of communication such as television, internets, radio, among others are also denied of risk information. This implies that risk information on commercial fire disasters need to be communicated through different and/or many channels and media so that many people operating in the central market of Kumasi could get access to the message to ensure DRR or effective management of commercial fire outbreaks.
In many instances, word of mouth and mass media have been useful. However, based on the assumption that information is uniformly received by all kinds of people, the dominant deficit-model which is a top-down approach of communication is applied mostly by many governments "(Judy and Jalagat 2015)". Meanwhile, this is not always the case because it is not easy getting everybody to accept the facts from the message and respond accordingly " (Fischhoff, Brewer and Downs 2011)". In their agenda-setting assumption, " McCombs and Shaw (1972)" also opine that sometimes the media are unsuccessful at informing the public what to think, but they are more successful at informing the public what to think about "(cited in Gakpe and Mahama 2014)". That is, it is sometimes difficult for the media to solicit ideas on the cause(s) of a particular problem from the public but very easy to give out ideas on how to solve such problem. One may ask: 'if you do not know the cause of a problem, how do you solve it?' This is the question that needs to be answered. It is therefore prudent for the media to give the public more opportunity to publicly air their views on the cause(s) of a particular problem, such as commercial fire disaster which is being under study.
Even-though social media programmes involve momentous resources, including human resources, it has proven to be an effective instrument for risk communication " (Kelly 2014)". During the firestorm in San Diego, California in 2007, and the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March, 2011, for instance, social media attested really cherished in circulating official and credible information " (Skarda, 2011;Poulsen, 2007)". "White (2012)" assigns numerous benefits to the use of social media including its easy way for information distribution and its ability to reach many people within a short period of time. This implies that with the use of social media as a medium of communicating commercial fire risks, information can be circulated all the time in a multiplicity of ways in order to get swift response. That is, unlimited means of communication can be generated with it. Thus, by sharing images, text messages and among others, it makes a reflective impression on the public's ability to cope during disaster and recover in its aftershock " (Capriles, 2014;Merchant, Elmer and Lurie 2011)". However, social media is a bottom-up form of communication and therefore lack formal command and control of the authority " (Coombs, 2012)". At times, it provides erroneous or false information " (Kusakari et al. 2014)". It is evident that the Cable News Network (CNN) report posted on social media on some facts about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing incident turned out to be false " (Carr 2013)". Thus, with social media, timely information is regularly given primacy over precise information "(Petrecca 2012)". Information from the traditional communication methods including mass media are therefore regarded as more credible " (Schultz and Goritz, 2011)".
Contrary, following its sensitivity to fires, smoke alarm is considered the most effective medium of communicating fire risks "(United States Fire Administration [USFA], 1990)". " DiGuiseppi et al. (2002)", however, is of the view that a mere installation of smoke alarms is a waste of resources. Thus, it provides only a little benefit because many lack the skills to comprehend the instruction of this medium "(Gilk, 2007)". It is therefore imperative to identify the best method and medium which many people can access to ensure EFRC in the central of Kumasi.

3.3.Livelihoods vulnerability and disaster management
The issues of livelihoods, vulnerability and disaster management have been dealt with by many scholars. In his study of livelihood diversification, for instance, "Simtowe (2010)" posits that women and men particularly in Africa have different roles in the making of livelihoods. He further opines that livelihoods diversification is important because it can lead to some form of specialization and also increase the people's ability to cope with risk. That is, once individuals gain new jobs or an upgrading in the existing jobs, they usually have both the resistant and resilience flexibilities and capabilities for disaster management. It can therefore be deduced that people's vulnerability to risk is influenced largely by both gender and livelihood strategies. This could also mean that the impact of fire disaster in the central market of Kumasi differs from one group of people to another. That is, the livelihoods of traders are affected differently by commercial fires hence their response to fire risk information and commercial fire disaster management could also differ.
Livelihood, according to " Chamber and Conway (1992)", comprises people, their capabilities and their means of living including food, income and assets. Livelihood is, thus, a means of gaining a meaningful living. Majority of people, especially the marginalized, living in cities are found in the informal sector and engage in private ventures for their economic livelihoods " (Fusheini 2014)". That is, despite the fact that majority of urban dwellers earn their living from both informal sector activities and informal sector entrepreneurs, employment alone cannot provide a livelihood to urban poor. This implies that people's vulnerability to disaster risks cannot be solely attributed to the kind of job they do for living but also how they behave. That is, the actions and inactions of people operating in the commercial areas in general and the central market in particular could have direct or indirect influence on the incidence of fire outbreak.
Conditions in a geographical area also make people vulnerable to disaster risks. "Javed (2014)" asserts that people living in the informal settlements in cities experience the most deplorable living and environmental conditions which are characterized by hazardous location, insecurity of tenure and vulnerability to serious health risks. These features indicate that risk is both inevitable and unabated in such communities in cities including where the central market is located. Thus, each of the above stated characteristics can endanger the lives of people, making them vulnerable to disaster risk. This shows that the congestions, illegal connections among others together with the kinds of items sold at the central market of Kumasi could also facilitate the occurrence of fire disasters.
Additionally, there is a relationship between lifestyles of individuals and disaster risk in every geographical area. Characteristics of group of people sometimes make them vulnerable to disaster. "Chatterjee (2010)", for instance, postulates that factors like religion, employment type and economic sector, language group, gender, demographic composition of households among others play a significant role in determining the level of vulnerability each household suffers from disaster occurrences. Sources of their income, which are normally inadequate for formally regulated markets " (Adarkwa and Post 2001)", therefore, depend on the ability of their performance in these ventures which are both legal and illegal. This means that some localities mainly provide informal labour market characterized by low wage, insecurity and uncertainty of working hour " (UN-Habitat, 2003)". These situations usually make them incapable to deal with disaster events whenever they occur. Thus, the loss of working days required to repair structural damage or the trauma cause victims to redirect assets towards treatment " (Parkinson, 2003)". Meanwhile, such assets are sometimes inadequate or lacking when they are requested from the traders operating in the central market.
In the case of Nigeria, for instance, "Rich and Wallace-Hadrill (1991)" identified that livelihoods of marginalized in cities are earned through different forms of economic activities including: employment as shop assistants, casual labourers, small business owners, and other income-generating activities such as carriers of goods. It therefore means that the moment one becomes handicapped, say from commercial fire disaster, his/her income reduces if not ceased unlike those in the formal sector. This situation could make many traders, especially those in the central market of Kumasi, vulnerable to the predicament of disaster risk. This could also explain why most of the traders in the central market are vulnerable to commercial fire outbreaks.

3.4.Factors facilitating effective fire risk communication
The heart of all communications is relationship "(Chatsworth Consulting Group [CCG], 2014)". EFRC would thus be achieved whenever good relationships exist among and between the authorities and the public "(Janoske, Brooke and Sheppard 2012)". Disaster managers therefore need to develop good rapport with the public in order to ensure the acceptability and utilization of the educative message communicated to them about the risks of commercial fires.
Declaration of intentions is vital in issues such as risk communication and disaster management. That is, until the public become aware of the disaster managers' intentions, they usually pay less attention or adamant to the educative messages in fire risks communicated to them. This means that there should be a transparency on what the public is expected to know and do with pre-risk information "(CCG, 2014)". ERC thus depends on selfawareness "(CCG, 2014)". That is, at any point in time, information is received differently by different people based on certain factors including socio-cultural background of the individuals " (Judy and Jalagate, 2015)". Both the disaster managers and the public therefore need to know each other's background information in order to ensure meaningful and successful fire risk communication.
The background information, according to 'Lionheart (2006)", includes socio-cultural and socio-economic factors. Thus, these factors directly or indirectly influence risk communication and disaster management. Male, aged and high income individuals have high optimistic bias to risk " (Trumbo et al. 2014)". This group of individuals, according to " Trumbo et al. (2014)", believe themselves to be less likely harmed by disaster events compared to others. This means that gender and level of income have influence on the decision-making process at the various phases of disaster " (Lionheart 2006)". Gender and income of individuals are thus important for ensuring EFRC. It is, therefore, important that the background information of both the disaster managers and the public should be made known to each other in order to ensure EFRC at various phases of disaster management.
Besides, level of education also influences EFRC for it plays a crucial role in diverse ways. Thus, literacy normally facilitates accessibility and understanding of risk information " (Lionheart, 2006)". " Duncanson, Woodward and Reid (2000)" therefore opines that low level of education significantly reduces individuals' understanding capacity. It impedes the abilities of individuals to do effective reading or understanding of risk information from instruction manuals and warning labels and eventually increases their risks of disaster " (Fahy andNorton, 1989 cited in Sarpong, 2013)". Besides, the kind of language to be used and the background of the audience or public are also vital since information is received differently by different people based on these factors among others "(Judy and Jalagat 2015)". EFRC is again influenced by the perceptions of the public. " Peters, Covello and McCallum (1997)" opine that perceptions depend on: knowledge and expertise; openness and honesty, as well as concern and care. This implies that the reasons attached to disaster management policies and the credibility of the disaster managers are usually very necessary for ensuring ERC and disaster management "(Janoske, Brooke and Sheppard 2012)". The perceptions that the public hold for risks, management policies, institutions and disaster managers themselves have influence on ERC. Thus, people are most likely to accept decisions when they acknowledge both the moral basis of the judgment and the legitimacy of the decision-making body " (Tyler, 2006)" and vice versa.
Time and ethnicity are also considered as facilitating factors for risk communication. Some people have a belief that anything told them officially is the truth and therefore bound to occur " (Lionheart 2006)", hence they pay particular attention to all sorts of information coming from the authorities. However, the timing for the dissemination of information is also essential. For instance, " Lionheart (2006)" postulates that tired people are less patient and therefore frown to communications or reject ideas with ease, especially when they are not favourable to them. The traders' mood and situation therefore need to be considered at any point in time when communicating fire risk information to ensure fire disaster management at the central market of Kumasi. Also, the confidence that people have in the disaster managers or authorities as well as the source of risk information are also critical when ERC comes to play. Whiles confidence involves the beliefs of people based on their past experience, trust involves the judgment of people's intention. Confidence, therefore, enhances the public's acceptability of the risk message from the managers or authorities " (Earle 2004)". Thus, the confidence that individuals have in the disaster mangers or the authorities directly or indirectly has influence on their actions and inactions towards the acceptability of any risk information " (Siegrist and Rödel, 2006)". In addition, if the authorities and the disaster managers have confidence and trust among themselves, their cooperation will be high to ensure ERC " (Siegrist, 2006)". Both confidence and trust are therefore essential in the decision making process towards commercial fire disaster management.
When analyzing the validity of risk information in all the phases of disaster, trust and credibility are vital factors which the public pondered. " Peters, Covello and McCallum (1997)" assert that the public usually conform with the direction of disaster managers if they believe that the messengers are accurate and competent. Trust is, therefore, considered as the fundamental element of risk communication " (Janoske, Brooke and Sheppard 2012)" or key social factor that has a significant influence on risk communication " (Earle 2004)". It involves the judgment of people's intention. Thus, the willingness of audience to the acceptance of the risk messages depends mainly on the level of trust that they have for the source of the information " (Earle 2004;Löfstedt 2005)".
There is therefore a direct relationship between trust and EFRC in all phases of fire disaster management. Trust between the disaster managers and the public is, thus, essential for an ERC " (Covello, 2010)". " Glik (2007)" therefore puts what it takes to ensure ERC into five components-consistency of messages; accuracy of messages; specific instructions on messages; messages and approaches to be customized for the various audiences; and messages need to be tested extensively. Establishment of trust thus requires the commitment of communicating agencies to policies of openness and transparency in their functions " (Infanti et al. 2013)".
Many people, however, lose trust and confidence in the fire authorities especially when they frequently call to answer questions on the failure of their operations. "Vennet (2006)" therefore opines that the authorities or disaster managers need to be honest in all their endeavours in building their trust and confidence with the public. Thus, the ability of disaster managers to build trust and confidence with the public through their response to disaster events and information delivery can help escalate the public perceptions on risk " (Palenchar, 2008)". That is, once the public has developed the trust in the authorities, they rely on them for all sorts of information regarding fire risk thereby ensuring effective commercial fire risk communication.
Meanwhile, according to " Covello and Sandman (2008)", with the application of its seven (7) cardinal rules of risk communication, the EPA has been successful in disseminating risk information to the public. These rules among others include: accepting and involving the public as a legitimate partner; listening to the audience; being honest, frank, and open; coordinating and collaborating with other credible sources; meeting the needs of the media; speaking clearly and with compassion; and planning carefully and evaluating performance " (Covello and Sandman, 2008)".

Conclusion
Hinged on the perspectives of the risk perception and planned behaviour theories which espouse that there are a variety of factors that influence the way people perceive risk and the acceptability of an information communicated, depends on the trust that both the public and the disaster managers/authorities have and exhibit respectively, the paper has analysed the causes and ramifications of commercial fire disasters, as having tendencies to be lined with both anthropogenic and natural drivers. Human livelihoods security is also identified to be a function of the vulnerability levels of the individual, exposed to a certain degree of risk.
Thus said, it is imperative to juxtapose the relative cost of a disaster occurrence on the survival and livelihood sustainability of the individual. These efforts, bring our commitment to the compliance of early warning communication, and/or prevention of the occurrence. This is because the emphasis on the psychological effect of disaster risk communication and the manner the information is transmitted by the audience as well as the rhetorical skills of the communicators in receiving decoded feedback is highly not mutually exclusive. A stakeholder integration of efforts, based on the utility of the two theories espoused, should be the guiding framework in generating and disseminating risk communication among disaster risk stake-actors, in their scheme of affairs.