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Sakaja on Kahawa West tragedy: We are evacuating

Governor says currently, all Nairobi County teams are fully engaged in disaster recovery

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by STAR REPORTER

Realtime20 October 2024 - 15:57
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In Summary


    • The city boss said the county has confirmed the collapse of the housing unit in Kahawa West area plot no. 233, along Station Road.
    • In an enforcement notice seen by the Star, the collapsed building comprised of a block of shops and flats of up to 8 levels which was reportedly constructed without any development approval.



Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has issued an update on the collapse of a housing unit in Kahawa West on Sunday.

The city boss said the county has confirmed the collapse of the housing unit in Kahawa West area plot no. 233, along Station Road.

"Currently, all Nairobi County Teams are fully engaged in disaster recovery and evacuating occupants from adjacent buildings," Sakaja said.

"Households had been evacuated last week following notice by the County Planning Department. Subsequent situation updates to follow."

In an enforcement notice seen by the Star, the collapsed building comprised of a block of shops and flats of up to 8 levels which was reportedly constructed without any development approval.

"Occupation of the same was without development permission and occupation certificate from Nairobi City County,  i.e dangerous building," the notice reads in part.

The notice also shows that the 


Update on collapsed Kahawa West Building (PHOTO: Governor Johnson Sakaja)


The search and rescue mission was launched Sunday morning after the multi-storey building collapsed.

Police earlier said that they were not certain if there were people trapped under the rubble after the incident. Residents had detected the weakness in the building and had mobilised residents to evacuate.

They even took videos of the seven-storey tumbling.

A video showed the residents warn those near there to move away moments before it came down amid screams.

Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said the residents had been evacuated from the house.

“We are not sure if there were people still therein, but I know there was an evacuation that happened. They knew it was weak,” he said.

He added they had sent teams to the site to help in searching and rescuing anyone who may be trapped. Multi-agency teams were sent to the area for the mission.

It is, however, feared that the owner had reportedly engaged two fundis whose whereabouts are not known as further investigations continue.

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