The dangerous Kinoo building that started collapsing last Friday has been demolished after posing great danger to the locals.
The five-storey building started collapsing on Friday forcing tenants from nearby buildings to vacate their houses.
“We are all in panic as we don’t know what will happen next. As much as we need to get our belongings from the house, it is risky as the building might fall anytime,” one of the tenants said.
According to masons who were carrying out construction at the site, they noticed that the building had started cracking on Thursday and stopped the work.
They said that they notified the owner after noticing a structural problem before but he did not take any action.
An expert revealed that the building was collapsing since it had no proper foundation.
Engineer Nathaniel Matalanga from the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) who spoke after visiting the site said that the building was standing on a weak foundation.
Mtalanga said that the area and large parts of Kiambu County had red soils which requires one to use lots of quality materials to set up a strong foundation.
“You cannot build a five-storey structure on a narrow foundation without the service of a structural engineer, it will collapse,” Matalanga said.
The engineer said that most of the buildings collapsing in the country are as a result of greedy developers who hire unqualified contractors to build their houses.
“If developers stopped shortcuts and greed and hired professionals, they will not lose their investment and we will have quality buildings,” he said.
He also accused the Nairobi Metropolitan Services for failing to conduct a proper supervision while saying some of the officials are bribed to allow construction of substandard buildings.
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