On Friday, December 6 a six-storey building in Tassia area of Embakasi came crashing down trapping scores of families that lived in the 57 units of the building.
Kenyans.co.ke's Simon Kiragu was at the scene of the incident where he met some of the residents who had luckily escaped with their lives from the ill-fated building as well as families of occupants trapped in the rubble.
He compiled accounts from former tenants and neighbours of the last few weeks before the fateful day, tales that expose the complicity of government officials and the unabated greed of city landlords.
Rhoda was one of the lucky ones, especially, because she had been living in the building until about a month ago when she moved out.
"It has been like three weeks since I moved from the collapsed building and the main reason for my moving was that the floor to my room had cracks," Rhoda narrated.
She further stated that due to the cracks the floor would shake every time one walked around the house a sign that sent shivers down her spine and forced her to move out.
According to Rhoda, the Landlord of the collapsed building tricked tenants into staying by lowering the rent every time people moved or threatened to move out.
"It got to a point where the rent was reduced to Ksh 3000 and later reduced to Ksh 2000 for the ground floor when he saw the house was about to collapse.
"In this area when one sees that the rent has been reduced in a permanent house they opt to stay in it despite the condition of the house," she further stated.
For Catherine Gechemba Awuonda she had just walked out of the shower from when she heard a loud thud that scared her especially being that she had sent her child to the shop.
"I decided to go look what was happening and was met by ab cloud of dust and screams from people and that when in realised that the building had collapsed," she stated.
She further stated that the house had been sold from one landlord to another before it was owned by the current one.
"The landlord was there this morning and left shortly before the building collapsed," she added.
Another occupant of the building narrated to reporters how he received a call while at work informing him that the house had collapsed forcing him to speed to the scene of the disaster.
As at the time of the interview, the man stated that rescuers were yet to reach the point where he estimated his room used to be.
"Having lived in the house for long, we understand and the problem of the house was on the lower floors which had a few weaknesses," he stated.
Though he denied that the house had cracks he admitted that the cement had been peeling off the walls but claimed it showed no signs of crumbling.
Being at work might have just saved the man's life.
By 8 p.m. on Friday evening, four people had been confirmed dead and 29 others rescued from the rubbles with several more feared trapped for more than 10 hours in the tragedy that struck at 8 a.m.
