The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Building collapse:

  • ‘Many trapped’ in Tanzania’s building collapse

    At least three people have been killed and dozens more are trapped after a multi-storey building collapsed in the centre of the main Tanzanian city, Dar es Salaam, rescue workers say.

    13 people have been pulled out of the ruins alive, officials say.

    Some 45 people, including construction workers, residents and children from a Koranic school, are missing.

    The BBC says the 12-floor building under construction is now a “huge pile of chaos.”

    “I thought there was an earthquake and then I heard screaming. The whole building fell on itself,” eyewitness Musa Mohamed told the AFP news agency.

    The report says a huge crane is pulling out a mass of iron bars to get access to the centre of the building, where some people are thought to be still alive.

    Trapped victims are said to have been making phone calls to friends and relatives.

    Bulldozers are also being used to move the rubble, BBC says.

    The report says there are large crowds of onlookers, as well as rescue workers and armed police officers at the scene.

    The collapsed building was near a mosque, as well as other residential and commercial properties in central Dar es Salaam.

     

  • Building collapse: Lagos to demolish 50 houses in Jakande Estate

    Building collapse: Lagos to demolish 50 houses in Jakande Estate

    Lagos State Government yesterday said 50 houses at Jakande Estate in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area failed an integrity test conducted by its officials on the buildings.

    The consequence according to government,is the demolition of the distressed buildings.

    It explained that the demolition of the 50 houses, (two and three storey buildings) became necessary having failed the integrity test conducted by the State Raw Materials Testing Agency, following the collapse of a two-storey building in the estate in November 2012.Two persons died in the incident.

    A top official of the state government said the collapse of the two-storey building led government to conduct integrity test on several buildings in the Estate.

    To perfect the arrangement, a stakeholders’meeting, organised by the State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA was held with the Agency’s General Manager, Dr. Femi Oke-Osayintolu presiding.

    The LASEMA boss told the meeting that the demolition was to avert disaster. Our reporter learnt that modalities for compensation and resettlement were then discussed by the parties involved .The stakeholders are to meet again on Monday and Thursday.

    Meanwhile, Chairman, Ejigbo LCDA, Kehinde Bamigbetan,in reacting to the development, said the issue of relocation of affected residents should be discussed fully to enable every one involved knows where he stands.

    Bamigbetan noted that the issue of insurance needed to be looked at when compensating the residents.

    Two sisters, Toyin and Bukola, both in their late 20s, were killed when they building collapsed in the estate last November.

    The building, situated at Block M20, Jakande Estate, Church Street, Oke-Afa, Lagos, collapsed at about 12 midnight killing the girls, instantly. Their mother was seriously injured.