Casualties are feared after a multi-storey building under construction collapsed in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday, leaving an unspecified number of people trapped beneath the rubble and renewing concerns over construction standards in the city.
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The building, believed to have been about 18 storeys high, collapsed in Eastleigh, a densely populated residential and commercial district of the Kenyan capital.
Videos circulating online showed the high-rise structure crashing to the ground and sending a massive cloud of dust across the surrounding area.
Search and rescue teams were deployed to the scene, but emergency workers initially struggled to access parts of the collapsed structure because the site was tightly surrounded by other high-rise buildings.
Police said one woman had been rescued from the rubble, while rescuers could hear the voice of another person trapped beneath the debris.
“There are lots of people trapped here,” President of the Institution of Engineering Technology of Kenya, Bibiye Mahmoud, said at the scene.
Mahmoud blamed repeated construction disasters on failures to ensure that building projects were properly supervised by qualified professionals.
“The contractors and the engineers are supposed to ensure that the works are followed by professionals. But most are not. This is why we are seeing these catastrophes. There is no accountability,” she said.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said the immediate priority was to rescue those trapped in the rubble.
“Our concern is to save lives,” Sakaja told journalists.
He also disclosed that the collapsed building did not have an occupation certificate, raising further questions over whether it complied with safety and regulatory requirements.
“This building has no occupation certificate. This has potentially cost lives,” the governor said.
An occupation certificate is an official approval confirming that a building meets the required standards and is considered safe and legally fit for occupation.
John Ogallo, Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya, said there had also been indications of structural problems before the collapse.
According to him, residents and people familiar with the building said cracks had been observed before it came down.
“People here are saying distresses were observed, like cracks,” Ogallo said.
He warned that using inappropriate or substandard construction materials could turn a building into “a time bomb.”
The collapse has renewed concerns over building safety in Nairobi, which has experienced a rapid construction boom in recent years, particularly in Eastleigh, an area known for its markets, commercial activity and large Somali community.
A report by Kenya’s National Building Inspectorate found that 87 per cent of buildings audited nationwide last year either failed to meet required standards or lacked necessary approvals.
Concerns over regulatory enforcement have grown alongside the pace of construction in the Kenyan capital.
Official statistics showed that the number of buildings completed annually in Nairobi rose from 20,025 in 2022 to 25,090 last year as the East African commercial hub continued to attract people from rural communities and neighbouring countries.
Building collapses have repeatedly caused deaths and injuries in Nairobi.
According to a report by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, 86 buildings collapsed in the city between 2009 and 2019, resulting in an estimated 200 deaths.
In September 2022, five people were killed when a six-storey building collapsed in a town on the outskirts of Nairobi.
One of the deadliest incidents occurred in April 2016, when a six-storey apartment building collapsed in the northeastern part of the capital after heavy rainfall triggered floods and landslides, killing 49 people.
Questions have repeatedly been raised over corruption, weak enforcement of building regulations and contractors allegedly cutting corners or bypassing approval processes.
Following Friday’s collapse, local media also reported incidents of looting around the disaster scene.
Police were seen using tear gas to disperse crowds gathering around the site as rescue operations continued.
Authorities had yet to announce an official casualty figure as emergency workers continued searching through the debris for survivors.
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