Collapsed Uthiru building to be demolished by the County

The Uthiru apartment that collapsed on Tuesday evening is set for demolition.

Nairobi disaster management chief officer Bram Simiyu on Wednesday said the five-storey apartment along Naivasha Road will be demolition by the county.

During a morning meeting on the subject, it was decided responsibility would not rest with the building’s owner.

“Initially, the owner was given priority to bring down the building. However, it was later decided that the Nairobi City County would be responsible for the demolition of the collapsed structure,” the report reads in part.

Once the demolition is complete, samples will be collected and examined to ascertain the cause of the collapse.

The samples will be taken to a laboratory for analysis. 

The County leadership noted that the building had received approvals but could not ascertain compliance at the time.

The Director of Planning stated that they would follow up to ensure that the approved drawings and structure were adhered to.

The collapsed apartment has since been handed over to the technical persons and engineers from Nairobi City County, Nairobi Building Inspectorate (NBI), and National Construction Authority (NCA) for further investigation and action.

Earlier in the day, the Kenya Defence Forces Disaster Response Battalion  (KDF/DRB) unit searched with a human detector dog and confirmed that no lives were trapped in the collapsed building.

The technical personnel declared the building unsafe and it was decided that no one should enter the building to retrieve their belongings.

The building housed 34 residents and all were rescued and reported to be safe.

The meeting was attended by the Nairobi City County Disaster and Planning Departments, the National Construction Authority (NCA), the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the KDF/DRB.

Other agencies present were the National Police Service (NPS), National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO), Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), National Disaster Management Unit (NDMU) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).