More than 50 students from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) were on Sunday, March 20 were evacuated from a five-storey residential apartment in Juja, Kiambu County after it started sinking.
This is after the building located at the university's 'Gate C' area started caving in on Sunday evening, posing a threat to the lives of the tenants. Preliminary reports indicate that a female student was injured and received medical attention.
Images seen by Kenyans.co.ke show the ground floor of the building caving in with the windows and metallic doors doors bulging outwards from their frames. Police officers as well as the county firefighters arrived at the scene to evacuate the students.
"About 52 students have been affected by the incident. We moved in quickly to evacuate them in time to ensure no casualties reported so far," a Kiambu County official told the media.
Notably, none of the students were allowed to salvage items from the building owing to the danger it posed. The affected students were offered accommodation by their college mates.
There are ongoing talks with the school administration to have the students temporarily settled in the university hostels. Some of the students have decried incurring loss, noting that they have only been compensated with their rent deposit.
"What we ask for is that we get compensated. Personally, I am left with nothing, yet I am supposed to complete my studies. The Ksh6,740 deposit refund will be f much help because I have nothing; no clothes, no food and nowhere to stay," one of the students lamented
The Kiambu County government called for the immediate demolition of the building, which was conducted by the county engineers. The operation was carried out carefully to ensure that the adjacent buildings are not affected.
Furthermore, officials have launched a crackdown on buildings in the county to assess their safety. The building is the second to develop structural warning signs in the county this month alone
On March 6, a five-storey building under construction collapsed in Kinoo. The building caved in from its ground flour, causing it to lean on an adjacent apartment building at midnight, necessitating immediate evacuation of tenants.
The county called for the building to be brought down. The incident sparked a debate on who is to carry the blame.
