Update: It has been established that the building had 57 single rooms, with about 46 families. As of 2 p.m close to 20 people have been rescued and 2 of them reported dead.
For more updates click on the link to follow https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/47388-tassia-tragedy-live-blog-full-coverage-rescue-mission
A six-storey building collapsed on the morning of Friday, December 6 at Embakasi's Tassia area, Nairobi County.
According to reports, several residents are feared to be trapped in the building.
Residents from the estates along with area police officers are engaged in efforts to rescue the victims feared trapped in the building.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke a resident from Tassia revealed that they have always had a fear pertaining to the construction of storey building in the estate.
"You know most of these buildings are constructed hurriedly, a number of them don't get licensing and to evade officers from the county, construction may sometime be done at night," he intimated.
"And now that the rains have flooded most of the area around here, every time it rains this place floods, I think it weakens these buildings, especially when they are not standardised," he added.
Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino revealed through his Facebook page that immediate intervention from the government had been sought.
The Tassia area was in 2016 flagged for substandard buildings by the National Construction Authority(NCA) as reported by the Standard on May 6, 2016.
According to the NCA and the National Housing Corporation, over 70 percent of buildings had not been approved by the county government thus posing a major threat to residents in the area.
"You cannot be sure whether yours is encapsulated in that bracket but if you look close, you can tell. Take a walk in Nairobi’s Pipeline and Tassia areas in Embakasi,
"Magorofani in Imara Daima, Githurai, Roysambu, Umoja, Ruaka, Satellite, Ruaraka and more: In these areas, there are flats which from eye view, look like trouble," Former Nairobi County Deputy Governor Jonathan Mueke was quoted by the Standard.
