KENYA: Main hospital appeals for medical supplies as rescue teams race against time to find survivors in building collapse

Record ID: 216509

  • Title: KENYA: Main hospital appeals for medical supplies as rescue teams race against time to find survivors in building collapse
  • Date: 25th January 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) OFFICIAL LEADER OF OPPOSITION, UHURU KENYATTA, SAYING: "As Kenyans we should be grateful to our friends who are ready to assist us in times of need. But that does not get away from the fact that we ourselves as a country need to be prepared to face these kind of disasters and I think that is what I'm saying. These are the issues that we as leaders nee
  • Embargoed: 9th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Health
  • Reuters ID: LVACHKN1QSUH8MY4WHM06DIK264C
  • Story Text: Rescuers raced on Tuesday (January 24, 2006) to dig out victims still buried alive a day after a building collapsed in central Nairobi, killing at least 12 and injuring more than 100.
    Seven people had been brought out alive since midnight, Kenyan Army Major General Paul Opiyo said. He said at least two more were still trapped alive, and officials feared that many more would be found dead.
    The rescuers, including experts from the United States and Israel, used dogs to sniff out survivors and drilled holes to provide oxygen. Cheers and applause erupted when a male survivor was carried out after 24 hours beneath the rubble. But rescuers had to move carefully to prevent further collapse after the six-storey building under construction fell on Monday (January 23).
    At least three bodies could be seen and the smell of the dead began to emanate from the wreckage, a Reuters reporter said, as scores of people donated blood in a makeshift clinic.
    An elite Israeli military search and rescue team flew in on Tuesday and took control of the scene, as they did after the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and of an Israeli-owned hotel near the coastal resort of Mombasa in 2002.
    "We've just come with the Israeli rescue mission. Right now we are in the very first stage of making the assessment of what is need and according to the assessment in a very short time we start working" said Emmanuel Seri, the Israeli Ambassador to Kenya.
    U.S. Navy "Seabee" engineers had also flown in on Tuesday from Djibouti, and 10 civilian experts from Britain were also due to arrive.
    Shoddy construction was suspected of causing the collapse of the building in a bustling commercial area near the central business district. In a city where graft runs rampant, many buildings are thrown up without proper licensing or inspections.
    Construction workers are often poorly paid untrained labourers known in Swahili as watu wa mkono -- "people of the hands".
    Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was cutting short his trip to an African Union summit in Sudan to fly home on Tuesday and take charge of the rescue operation.
    10 civilian experts from Britain were due to fly in. Kenya's main hospital appealed for help, particularly which equipment to help those injured. A Kenyatta National Hospital spokesman said 92 people had been treated and discharged, and 34 were still in hospital. Wards were packed with injured people whose condition had been stabilised and were awaiting further treatment. The hospital called for stretchers and wheelchairs to help those who had been injured in the collapse. Kenya's official opposition leader Uhuru Kenyatta joined other in donating blood to help the injured and he encouraged others to do the same.
    Kenyatta said Kenya needed to be better prepared for disasters.
    "As Kenyans we should be grateful to our friends who are ready to assist us in times of need," Kenyatta said. "But that does not get away from the fact that we ourselves as a country need to be prepared to face these kind of disasters and I think that is what I'm saying. These are the issues that we as leaders need to be debating not empty, political rhetoric but actually putting in place clear, concrete strategies as to how we can meet these kind of crises when they happen," he said.
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