January 29, 2018

Summary

According to the police, about 6,000 people have been left homeless.

More by Correspondent

4 Dead Thousands Left Homeless in Lang’ata Slum Inferno

4 Dead Thousands Left Homeless in Lang’ata Slum Inferno

Three people were left dead and several others injured after a fire engulfed Kijiji slums in Lang’ata on Sunday night.

National Disaster Management Unit Deputy Director Pius Masai confirmed that three bodies were recovered on Monday morning.

The cause of the fire, which according to residents started at around 8 pm, is still unknown.

Hundreds of families were forced to spend Sunday night out in the cold after their houses were razed down.

According to the police, about 6,000 people have been left homeless. The affected residents are camping at Ngei Primary School, where they will receive humanitarian assistance.

Masai has appealed to well-wishers to donate food and clothings to the victims.

“We appeal for well-wishers to bring food and non-food items to the affected families,” Mr Masai said.

Poor Response by County Fire Brigade

Kenyans have taken to social media to condemn the slow response by the Nairobi County Fire brigade, which consequently made the fire spread faster.

According to residents, even after arriving hours later, the fire engines ran out of water.

Below are some of the views shared in reaction to the Lang’ata fire.

HASSAN‏ @HassanGarat1: Mike Sonko is reserving water for @RailaOdinga‘s swearing-in instead of extinguishing #LangataFire– Its obvious now that his priority is and always has been to protect Kenyatta’s illegitimate government over the poor slum dwellers-Sad!

uin‏ @VINKIBET: We can’t handle a fire yet we have plans to start producing electricity using nuclear energy #LangataFire

Dannish Odongo:‏ We treat the poor in this country with contempt. A moth’s life is more valuable than the life of a poor person. I’m a very emotional man this morning. I’m angry, sad, disgusted, and I honestly feel like crying. It’s not right how we treat the poor in this country. #Langatafire

Natalie Mukundane K‏: 1 hour later and the fire is still ongoing. Let us pray that no one has been hurt #LangataFire

Mc Kim‏: It is sad that even after @MikeSonko and @UKenyatta. Commissioned the fire engines, the victims of Langata could not get any help from the firefighters other than watching their houses go down. Very sad.

Stacey_‏ @nyandiko: Once again the langata fire shows that there are only 2 tribes in Kenya: The Haves and the Have nots. Where do you stand?

TAGS

Related Articles