Most urban centres in the sub-Sahara African countries have been experiencing a rapid increase in their population, Cameroon inclusive. It is partly explained by the presumed better living conditions and urban expectations. Once there, migrants are faced with different realities of high living cost, unemployment, increased house rents, poor sanitation amidst others. In an effort to cope with these prevailing conditions, the migrants becomes vulnerable to indecent lifestyles, and environmentally unsafe zones exposing them to all sorts of risks. Substantial literature exist on rural-urban migration but coping strategies to the social and environmental dilemma in the urban milieu remains elusive. This paper, therefore, sets out to fill this knowledge gap through an in depth investigation of the resilient measures adopted by the urban poor and the legal provisions for a safety and healthy living styles in urban Yaounde as prescribed by the law. To attain the objective, secondary data were collected from archival documents in the regional delegations of town planning and ministerial departments in charge of housing. Also, urban planning policies and Council Development Plans for the various councils in Yaounde were exploited including the exploration of relevant websites. Primary data were obtained via a sample of 200 inhabitants in the seven Sub-divisions in the town of Yaounde. This was achieved through the use of a purposely structured questionnaire. Interviews (N=10) Focus group discussions (N=5) and direct field observations were other relevant sources of primary data. Spatial data were collected with the use of a GPS for localisation and exploitation of GIS software for other relevant cartographic data. Content and quantitative analysis were used. Results indicated that poverty is the main driver to social and environmental vulnerability which is manifested in different forms. The non-respect of legal provisions and prolonged administrative tolerance expose the urban poor indecent socio-environmental conditions. The scenario in most cases have resulted to a significant and unexpected loss of lives and destruction of valuable property. Glaring examples include the most recent Mbankolo disaster in November 2023 that resulted to the loss of over 100 lives identified, homelessness, and loss of property with far reaching effects. This study strongly recommends urgent proactive disaster measures, such as the resettlement of the vulnerable population in risky neighbourhood, exploitation of relevant cartographic data provided by the National Institute for Cartography (NIC) especially the modelling of risk areas amongst others. In fact, such scenarios should be treated as a matter of urgency and should even become part of government’s emergency plan of action, not only for the city of Yaounde but for the country as a whole.