KENYA – BUILDING COLLAPSE: SEARCH & RESCUE MISSION UNDERWAY IN NAIROBI AFTER MULTIPLE-STOREY BUILDING COLLAPSES

A residential building collapsed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Sunday, leaving several people feared trapped, county officials and emergency responders said.
A search and rescue mission was launched after a multi-storey building collapsed in Kahawa West area, Nairobi.
Police said they are not certain if there were people trapped under the rubble after the incident.
Locals had detected the weakness in the building and had mobilised residents to evacuate.
They even took videos of the seven-storey tumbling.
The video showed the residents warn those near there to move away moments before it came down amid screams.
Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said the residents had been evacuated from the house.
He added they had sent teams to the site to help in searching and rescuing anyone who may be trapped.
Multi-agency teams were sent to the area for the mission.
It is however feared that the owner had engaged two fundi whose whereabouts are not known.
The Nairobi City County Government has confirmed the collapse of a housing unit in Kahawa West area plot no. 233, along Station Road, Kahawa West.
Currently, all Nairobi County teams are fully engaged in disaster recovery and evacuating occupants from adjacent buildings.
The county said households had been evacuated last week following notice by the County Planning Department.
The East African nation is undergoing a construction boom, but corruption has allowed contractors to cut corners or bypass regulations.
Five people were killed when a six-storey building collapsed in a town on the outskirts of Nairobi in September 2022.
In April 2016, 49 people were killed when a six-floor apartment building crumbled in the northeast of the capital after days of heavy rain caused floods and landslides.

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