Scores of people ran to safety after a building collapsed at Kikuyu Constituency in Kiambu County on Saturday, May 6.
The building located at Kidfarmaco area which was under construction started developing cracks sparking fears of an imminent collapse.
According to reports, eight contractors were brought to the site to install supporting pillars so as to avoid a tragedy.
“The contractors told us that they were unable to save the building and so we should rush out before it collapsed,” one of the workers at the site reported.
The warning turned out to be lifesaving as the building tumbled down a few minutes after everyone had moved to safety.
Speaking minutes after the tragedy, Kikuyu Ward Representative Kamau Bro remarked that the building was just one of the many in Kiambu County that were substandard.
“Governor Kimani Wamatangi had earlier appointed a team to identify substandard structures within the county.
“Several buildings were fingered to be at risk of collapse,” the Member of the County Assembly remarked while calling on Wamatangi to act on those findings.
The national government through Ronald Kirui, Sub County Commander for Kikuyu revealed that they had already swung into action.
“We have already formed a multi-agency team to investigate what caused the building to collapse,” he assured the public.
The tragedy happened a month after Shammah Kiteme, the secretary of the Institution Engineers of Kenya (IEK), disclosed that only 15 per cent of buildings in the country are safe.
“The national building inspectorate carried out investigations on existing buildings.
“And 15 per cent are safe and about eight per cent are fair, the rest are not safe. So, to say the problem is huge is an understatement,” Kiteme stated on Wednesday, April 12.
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