A building that collapsed amid heavy rains in Nairobi, killing at least 12 people and injuring at least 134, did not have an occupancy permit, officials said on Saturday as they ordered its owner to turn himself in.
Details about the residential building emerged a day after its collapse on Friday, after which crowds of onlookers gathered to try to help pry people from the rubble.
Kenyan Police inspector general Joseph Boinnet ordered the owner of the building to surrender himself to the police for questioning.
The building did not have an occupancy permit, which is a government requirement for all buildings, Kenyan National Construction Authority chairman Stephen Oundo said.
Kenyan officials said that the building — which was at least six stories tall and contained several dozen apartments — was built illegally too close to a river.
“The owner of the building, the architect and the engineers who were involved in the construction will have to be arrested and charged,” Kenyan Minister of the Interior Joseph Ole Nkaissery said, according to the Web site Capital FM.
“They must be brought to book,” Nkaissery said.
Many buildings in Kenya are built illegally, without proper permits or permission from the local authorities.
During the rainy season, when water sluices through poor neighborhoods, many shoddily constructed buildings have collapsed because of erosion.
Some residents of the building that collapsed on Friday said they felt it shake violently before it went down.
Also on Friday, in another area of Nairobi, four people were killed after a large wall broke apart in the heavy rains.
The Kenya Red Cross said 150 building units and adjacent homes were affected by the rains.
Nairobi police chief Japheth Koome said that the 134 injured people were rescued from the rubble.
Kenya is in the middle of its April-May rainy season.
Additional reporting by NY Times News Service
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was