A multi-storey building under construction collapsed in the Kenyan capital on Friday, the Red Cross announced, while local media reported injuries and looting at the site of the incident.
Clips circulated on the Internet showed the moment the building collapsed, with thick clouds of dust rising as it fell. The building is located in the densely populated Eastleigh area, which includes commercial establishments and residential buildings, and is believed to have consisted of about 18 floors.
Journalists from Agence France-Presse observed the building turning into a pile of rubble, while small numbers of search and rescue teams arrived at the scene.
Abdi Aziz, a 25-year-old resident of the area, told Agence France-Presse: “There were some shops in the basement, and the workers were busy with construction work.”
He added: “But because the incident coincided with Friday prayers, many of them were in the mosque. I think the number of deaths is small; “No one lived in the building.”
Local media reported looting, and suggested that there were people trapped under the rubble. Some photos also showed large crowds gathered in the vicinity of the incident that occurred at noon. The police used tear gas to disperse the crowds, as witnessed by Agence France-Presse reporters. Rescue operations had not yet begun when the agency's reporters arrived.
Nairobi is witnessing a rapid urban boom, with high-rise buildings spreading across the city, especially in the Eastleigh neighborhood, known for its crowded markets and being a center for the Somali community. There are many concerns about building safety standards.
According to a report issued by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, the period between 2009 and 2019 witnessed the collapse of 86 buildings. Which resulted in the death of about 200 people.
Hundreds of Ethiopians have fled to Kenya following the outbreak of fighting in the border town of Moyale, the Kenya Red Cross Society and local government officials said on Thursday.
Residents reported that the fighting broke out yesterday, Wednesday, and gunshots could still be heard a day later in parts of the town on the Ethiopian side of the border. The town is located on both sides of the border and also extends into Kenyan territory.
It is not yet clear what caused the fighting in areas of the town located south of the Ethiopian Oromiya region. Officials there could not yet be reached for comment.
Stanley Kamande, Marsabit County Commissioner in Kenya, told Reuters: “We received hundreds of people from Ethiopia, most of them children and women.”
He added: “Many of them are staying with relatives and sympathizers in several villages on the Kenyan side of Moyale.”
The Kenya Red Cross Society said it was conducting an assessment to determine the number of affected people and their needs.
Ibrai John, a Red Cross official, said: “There is no camp ready to host these displaced people, but we will certainly work on that.”
This fighting broke out on the other side of Ethiopia, hundreds of kilometers away from the conflict in the Tigray region in the north of the country between government forces and a rebel coalition led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front.
The World Health Organization announced today (Thursday) that the information provided about a woman infected with Ebola in Nigeria did not include her travel to the Congo, after Ugandan authorities said that the woman had gone to the Congo before her infection was diagnosed.
Health authorities in Nigeria stated, according to Reuters, that the first case of Ebola infection in the country in more than a decade was a Ugandan woman who recently returned from her country.
The Ugandan Ministry of Health said the woman also traveled to Congo, where the outbreak was first announced in mid-May, and since then the outbreak has become the fastest spreading on record.
“The information provided to the World Health Organization did not include travel to another country” other than Uganda, Pavel Orso, a representative of the World Health Organization, said in an online press conference.
He added: “The information we received indicates that the patient returned to Abuja on October 3 after remaining in Uganda since September 16.”
On the other hand, a health sector official in Kenya said that the authorities there have now traced all contacts of the first case of Ebola infection in the country, numbering 135 people. This case was confirmed to be infected with the disease on October 6, after which 8 more cases were recorded.
