Shack fire

STRAND, SOUTH AFRICA - JANUARY 19: A woman walks with her belongings past a burned out car, a day after a shack fire on January 19, 2001, in a poor township outside Strand, South Africa. Shack fires are very common, as they are built very close to each other and people are using paraffin stoves, which easily fall over, spreading fires quickly. About 300 shacks were burned to the ground in a couple of hours and about 1,500 people were homeless and lost all their possessions. South Africa is facing a severe backlog of housing for the poor of about 6-7 million, forcing people to live in dangerous shacks in appalling conditions without running water or electricity.The government has built about 1.7 million houses since 1994. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images)