60 Year Old Injured, Kids Escape Unscathed As House Collapses On Them.

65-year old Isaac Guchu is nursing a broken legs and several tissue injuries after their house collapsed and fell on his family in Nguruwe-ini Village of Gaichanjiru Location, Murang’a County.

Narrating the ordeal while writhing in great pain from his Hospital bed at Maragua District Hospital, Guchu said that heard some cracking sound coming from the walls of his house at around am Monday Morning and alerted his wife. After a few minutes, the cracking increased and he instructed his wife and four kids to immediately rush out, warning them that their house was about to collapse on them.

Unfortunately, before any of them could move out, the whole house collapsed, trapping them under the rubble.

“As we were sleeping, I heard the cracking sound and thought that someone had hit the mabati with a stone but my wife discounted that notion. Within a very short time, it was quite apparent that the walls were actually collapsing. It was then I instructed them to rush out of the house. Before anyone could get out, the entire house fell on us, trapping me beneath the heavy walls and the bed,” said Guchu.

By good luck, their four toddlers aged between 1 and 10 were unhurt and were able to sneak out through the small openings that were formed on the walls after the crushed.

The two were able to raise alarm. The neighbours responded to the distress call and immediately embarked on the rescue operation.

“I heard this goddamned boom when the building collapsed. Guchu and his wife were screaming underneath the rubble when we arrived. It was very terrifying, terrifying screams,” said one of the first people to arrive in the scene.

Guchu was trapped in the rubble for about half an hour as the neighbours worked to free him. It was reportedly difficult to free him without causing the rubble to shift in ways that might cause further collapse of the building or shift the rubble so as to further injure him. He was eventually freed, though he suffered some serious injuries. His wife was luckier and apart from being horrified and scared, she seemed rather unhurt.

Upon rescuing Guchu, the discovered that he had a fractured leg plus some torn tissues caused by what was suspected to be sharp objects. They called a certain Eunice, a volunteer working for Ahadi Kenya Trust, who made swift arrangements to have him rushed to Maragwa Level 4 Hospital.

By the time our team arrived at the disaster scene Monday Morning, the compound was jammed with grief-stricken neighbours who expressed their concern about the state of some of the houses the people in the area were living in.

S.K. Ng’ang’a, a native and an aspiring 2017 Kandara Constituency candidate, lamented that it was quite sad so many people in the Murang’a South were living in very dangerous habitation due to the level of poverty in the area.

“Let us first admit that we have a very big problem at hand. If we keep burying our heads in the sand, we will continue witnessing such calamities or even worse case scenario in future. It is time we unveiled our wound and sought a permanent solution to it,” said S.K.

He mobilised the locals into coming up with a solution to the Guchus’ problem and promised to help the family put up a new house come Wednesday the 25^th. He promised to liaise with the locals to ensure that Guchu’s hospital bill was settled and the rest of his family members had their health examined so as to be sure they were all safe and out of danger.

He appealed to both the national government and Murang’a County leadership to use the resources at their disposal such to offer support to this family as well as others who may have been hit by such natural calamities just as they did to the victims of the building that collapsed in Huruma, Nairobi last month.

The money, he said, can be sourced from the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), a kitty meant to support people affected with disasters or the Disaster Management Fund.

He appealed to all the leaders to take a step further to familiarise with the living conditions of the people of Kandara, majority of whom, lived below the poverty line.