Residents recall moment killer landslide shook them awake

By Isaiah Lucheli

Justus Odiwuor was awake and whiling away time in bed as he contemplated the busy day ahead when he heard a crushing sound emanating from his neighbour’s house.

What came to Odiwuor’s mind was that the corrugated iron sheet structures that he had regarded as home for the past seven years were being brought down by either the city council or private developers following many years of threats of eviction.

As he got out of the bed to go and confirm what was happening the roof and the walls of his house came caving in burying him and his wife and their two-year-old son who were still asleep.

Odiwuor is one of the people who survived the Mathare 4 tragedy that claimed the lives of nine people and left two other seriously injured and six with minor injuries.

boulders

"It never occurred to me that the boulders that have been there since I rented the house in Mradi in Mathare 4 had collapsed on our houses. There had been many rumours that we were supposed to be evicted from the area and when I heard the sound I knew we were being evicted," he said.

The houses had been built in a depression near huge rocks which were hanging precariously. It is suspected that the heavy rains that have been pounding the city and its environs dislodged the rocks, which then rolled into the depression where the houses had been built.

Odiwuor passed out and when he regained consciousness he had been rushed to the Blue House Hospital in the slum where he had received first aid and was then taken to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

At the hospital, he learnt that his wife had sustained serious stomach injuries and had been admitted while their child had escaped unhurt.

Odiwuor, who does manual jobs in the city, said he was lucky to have survived.

"When the house collapsed, I thought I was going to die. When I regained consciousness and enquired about my family and was informed they were alive I knew it was God’s grace," he said.

Patricia Asiyo said she was woken up by her neighbours who were shouting incoherently.

"We were in the house with my husband and child when we heard the neighbours talking at around 5am, but before we could take any action the wall of the house collapsed," she told The Standard.

lucky escape

Asiyo said her husband and their one-year-old child escaped unhurt but her leg was trapped in the mangled iron sheets.

"The place where the incident happened resembled a scene from a horror movie. There were people trapped under the huge rocks and mangled iron sheets. Also, accessing the area was also a big challenge which aggravated the situation," explained Moses Odhiambo, a relative of Odiwuor.

He added that the heavy rains that had pounded the area overnight affected the rescue efforts and even tractors had a difficult time accessing the area.

"Many of the people who succumbed to the injuries would have been saved had there been a prompt rescue team with adequate equipment. The efforts by the people who turned up was slow and uncoordinated," he said.

The KNH casualty department was a beehive of activities as relatives sought to know the fate of their kin.

Dr Ngugi Njuguna of KNH said eight people had been admitted to the referral hospital.

Njuguna explained that two people had been seriously injured while six others had sustained minor injuries and had been treated and discharged.

"Those seriously injured had sustained pelvic and stomach injuries while the other had sustained soft tissue injuries. Two children also sustained minor injuries," he said