Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Sunday evening said one casualty was reported in the afternoon collapse of an eight-storey residential building in the Kahawa West area.
The building’s number of occupants during the incident had yet to be established. It housed residential units and businesses, among them a clinic.
Sakaja said a middle-aged woman was hurt by falling rubble outside the building as it caved in.
“So far, only one casualty has been reported; a middle-aged lady, who was outside the building, was injured by the falling rubble during the collapse. She is currently undergoing treatment and is stable,” the governor said in an update some minutes before 5 p.m.
“Casualties are expected to be minimal as the building had been condemned and evacuations effected by the Nairobi City County’s Planning Enforcement team.”
The building had been condemned when it collapsed. It reportedly had only been occupied for less than a month.
According to the Nairobi County government and the National Construction Authority (NCA), a multi-sectoral committee visited the building on October 16 and gave orders for immediate evacuation, following which a two-week evacuation notice was issued.
“All the tenants were evacuated from the building, and the building owner was directed to provide a structural integrity report within 14 days. However, before this was done, the building collapsed,” NCA said on Sunday.
