Panic gripped tenants in the Kamakis area on the Eastern Bypass, Kiambu County after a 6-storey building developed cracks on Monday evening, May 8.
Reports indicated that the occupants of the apartments alerted the police and county government officials for fear of the building crumbling. The building hosts over 100 occupied tenants.
Acting swiftly to the distress call, Kiambu County government engineers conducted an inspection on the building but declared it safe.
According to John Kamau, the Ruiru sub-county engineer, there was no need for evacuations as the cracks did not affect the structural elements of the building.
“The cracks are minor and do not affect structural elements like columns and beams, however, we will subject the building to tests to establish its safety,” he stated.
Echoing his statement, Ruiru police boss Alex Shikondi affirmed that the occupants should not worry about the building as the officers would keep monitoring it.
“We value life more than property. If the engineer would have indicated that the building is unsafe for occupation we would have requested all the tenants to vacate, but since he has said otherwise we will allow them in but continue monitoring,” Shikondi pointed out.
A section of the tenants had opted to move out of their premises to a temporary location after noticing the cracks.
“I moved into the building in December last year, but a month ago I noticed that the walls had started developing cracks and some of the doors would not close, so I decided to move out,” a tenant identified as James Mwangi stated.
The news comes after over 70 people escaped death by a whisker after a 4-storey building under construction collapsed at Kidfarmaco village, Kiambu County.
One of the workers at the site affirmed that the building collapsed after contractors who were brought to install supporting pillars informed them that they were unable to save the building.
“The contractors told us that they were unable to save the building and so we should rush out before it collapsed,” he reported.
