This archive report was first published on 13 June 2020.
On June 9, 2020, a devastating building collapse in Kericho town claimed the life of a 7-year-old boy and left a trail of destruction. The tragedy occurred at Tebs View Court, where a three-storey building came crashing down, severely damaging a Toyota pick-up truck belonging to Fredrick Odhiambo.
The National Construction Authority (NCA) and Kericho County government swiftly declared the adjacent buildings, which housed 69 tenants, unsafe for occupation. In a notice to the tenants, Housing Executive Barnabas Ngeno condemned the buildings, stating that they were not structurally sound.
"The design of the remaining building blocks were drawn by the same architect and constructed by the same contractor using the same materials and in the same environment as the building block that collapsed on Tuesday night," Ngeno explained. "That being the case, we have decided that every tenant in the building must move out immediately to avoid another calamity."
A team from the KDF Disaster Response Unit was deployed to clear the rubble at the collapsed building.
