HOME > AFP-JIJI PRESS NEWS JOURNAL > Article
Eight-storey building collapses in Kenyan capital
A residential building collapsed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Sunday, leaving several people feared trapped, county officials and emergency responders said.
Cases of buildings caving in are not uncommon in the country, often a result of shoddy construction and flouted regulations.
The eight-storey building in Kahawa West, a densely-populated neighbourhood north of the capital, had been condemned for demolition, Nairobi county officials said.
Several families were feared trapped under the rubble, the Kenya Red Cross said on X.
One woman who was standing outside the building when it collapsed was hurt, Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja told AFP, adding that casualties were expected to be minimal.
She is currently undergoing treatment and is stable, he said, adding that residents of adjacent buildings will be evacuated.
The collapse sparked a swarm of onlookers to the scene sandwiched between high rise buildings and a church.
Catherine Wanjiku, who had lived in the building since 2017, told AFP she was lucky to have escaped with her life.
I don't feel good because I moved out yesterday. I am shaky, I am stressed. I have friends whose belongings have been destroyed in there, the 33-year-old said.
According to a Nairobi county document seen by AFP and dated October 16, the building had been constructed and occupied without the requisite approvals.
Tenants had been ordered to vacate the building in two weeks.
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.
The building, constructed two years earlier, had been scheduled to be demolished after being declared structurally unsound.
(2024/10/21 17:02)
Click Here for Japanese TranslationAFP-JIJI PRESS NEWS JOURNAL
- 10/21 19:07 Seoul demands 'immediate withdrawal' of North Korean troops in Russia
- 10/21 17:57 Bomb hoax threats to Indian airlines spark chaos
- 10/21 17:55 Harris celebrates birthday at Georgia churches as Trump serves McDonald's
- 10/21 17:03 US, Canada warships pass through Taiwan Strait
- 10/21 17:02 Eight-storey building collapses in Kenyan capital
- 10/21 17:00 Charles expresses 'great joy' at being back in Australia
- 10/18 18:34 Canada marine protection plan aims to serve as global model
- 10/18 18:27 Musk stumps for Trump in key US swing state
- 10/18 18:20 Mbappe to keep any explanations for Swedish justice, 'if necessary' - lawyer
- 10/18 17:08 French Senate speaker 'astounded' by Macron 'ignorance' on Israel
- 10/18 17:03 One Direction members 'devastated' by Liam Payne's death
- 10/18 17:00 Trump says Zelensky 'should never have let' Ukraine war start
- 10/17 17:04 'Nowhere is safe'-- Lebanon Christian villiage reels from Israel strike
- 10/17 17:01 Bondi beach 'closed' as Sydney shores hit by 'tar balls'
- 10/17 16:59 UN report says 1.1 billion people in acute poverty
- 10/17 16:57 Three US presidents join Kennedy clan at Ethel Kennedy funeral
- 10/17 16:55 South Korea's Hwang Ui-jo faces four years in jail for sex video
- 10/17 16:54 Israeli minister criticises Macron over France defence show ban
- 10/16 17:22 Portrait by humanoid robot to sell at auction in art world first
- 10/16 17:16 'Mysterious black balls' close Sydney beaches
- 10/16 16:32 North Korea claims more than a million people joined army this week
- 10/16 16:31 Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon
- 10/16 16:30 Kylian Mbappe 'shocked' to see name linked to Swedish rape investigation
- 10/16 16:29 Russia working to undermine Moldova vote-- US
- 10/15 19:26 Biden's back (not) and Kamala sips a brewsky
- 10/15 19:24 K-pop star tells South Korea lawmakers of workplace bullying
- 10/15 17:35 Mbappe 'investigated for rape' in Sweden-- report
- 10/15 17:28 US, Philippines launch war games a day after China's Taiwan drills
- 10/15 17:24 Trump says could support using US military against Americans
- 10/15 17:23 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic