Patrick Omondi (30 years) with a neighbour's son, Bruno Fidel (3 years) at Kenyatta national hospital on April 04 2012. They are both survivors of the Mathare landslide caused by heavy downpour. Photo/PHOEBE OKALL
By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com and ZADDOCK ANGIRA zangira@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, April 4 2012 at 22:30
Posted Wednesday, April 4 2012 at 22:30
He woke up after stones tore through the roof of his house with a heavy thud, landing on his bed.
And little did 30-year-old Patrick Omondi know that his entire neighbourhood had been brought down by pieces of rock that fell on the mabati huts, leaving nine area residents dead.
But while he escaped the rubble narrowly, his wife, Jackline, was hit on the abdomen and is severely injured.
“The entire house collapsed on us, with my wife screaming for help as the heavy stones lay on her body,” Mr Omondi, a mechanic, said as he held his daughter Velma Atieno.
The seven-year-old daughter was in the house at the time of the incident but escaped unhurt although doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital said they had to ascertain that she was stable.
His neighbour at Nairobi’s Mathare A4, Mr Justus Oduor, had his right leg badly hurt in the 4am incident, although he said he could not recount what exactly happened.
Neighbours screaming
“I could hear my neighbours screaming, saying there were rocks on top of the house before the rocks tore through my roof,” Mr Oduor said at his Kenyatta National Hospital bed on Wednesday.
He sprang out of the bed in pain and headed straight for the door before other rocks flattened his mabati house.
“I was trapped and I was in a lot of pain too,” he told the Nation.
He was among those who were rescued by the Kenya Red Cross from the rubble.
Eight of the victims of the Mathare landslide were admitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital, officials said.
The hospital’s Dr John Ngugi said only two were severely injured after one sustained a fracture on his right leg and the other had abdominal injuries.
“The rest sustained soft tissue injuries and are expected to walk out of the hospital before the end of the day,” Dr Ngugi said at KNH.
Twenty-two-year old Patricia Asiyo was caught up in the rubble as she escaped from her house in the slum.
“People were shouting saying there were rocks falling all over before some hit me. I lay there unconscious until I was rescued,” she said.
Another lucky survivor Festus Ochieng’ Ogwada heard a loud bang before his house was engulfed in dust.
When he tried getting up from the bed, he realised that one of his walls had been brought down by a big rock and the blocks had covered his wife and an eight year old son.
They escaped with only minor injuries.
And Robert Odongo’s house was completely brought down. He first heard stones rolling on top of his roof before he heard his three children screaming.
The falling stones had flattened his house and destroyed everything in the house. He was together with his wife and aged 12, seven and one-and-a-half years.
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