The afternoon sunny lull was broken by a loud crash of collapsing debris. Hundreds of people fled in all directions fearing the worst, as hundreds more ran towards the crash site. “Somebody help me!” were the screams from people caught up under massive debris.

A 5 storey building under construction collapsed in the Central Business District in Nairobi, Kenya, on 23rd January 2006. Within minutes of the sudden disaster the members of the public, with bare hands and using crude weapons, were busy combing the dusty concrete debris for anyone alive. “Over 200 people are under that debris,” one of the construction workers cried hysterically as he pointed at a section of the collapsed structure.

Moments later, over 70 Kenya Red Cross Society volunteers were at the site, with stretchers and medical First Aid kits to assist the injured. Over 15 injured people were ferried to hospital in the first 30 minutes of the disaster.

“When we arrived we found an extremely chaotic situation,” said Anthony Muchiri, a Nairobi Branch Red Cross Action Team (RCAT) volunteer. A Kenya Red Cross Society volunteer and three other people were knocked down and injured by a bus that ploughed through the chaotic emergency scene due to brake failure. The National Society volunteer (lady) and the other three people were later treated at a hospital and discharged.

“We moved the injured from the collapsed building to a mobile medical centre where we attended to them before we ferried them to the national hospital with our ambulance and those from other agencies,” explained Muchiri. “Later, we quickly mobilised more volunteers from the Society’s Thika, Embu, Kajiado and Karen-Langata Branches,” Muchiri added. The volunteers set up food and accommodation tents and attended to the needs of the rescuers and Red Cross personnel.

The Society’s Headquarters dispatched flash lights, body bags, tents, 2-inch flexible pipes gauge, torches and hardware gloves to assist in the operation, and continued requesting for rescue equipment and trained search and rescue dogs.

Muchiri was moved emotionally by scenes of helpless construction workers crying out for help beneath the debris. “I am unable to take it. Seeing people nearby who need help and not able to help is unbearable,” he said, adding, “It’s a case of too close yet too far!”

Several people remained trapped for hours and could be seen signalling for help from under the debris with their hands. Most of the injured had head and facial injuries and fractures in the hands, hips and legs, while others had internal bleeding. Bystanders, including children, were injured by collapsing material. As at midday on day two, 92 people had been pulled out of the debris alive and treated in various hospitals. It was not clear how many people had succumbed to their injuries, but the authorities placed it tentatively at more than ten people.

“I do not believe I’m alive,” said Martin Muhinda after being buried for the last 24 hours. Rescue personnel cheered Muhinda as he was carried shoulder-high on a stretcher. The Israeli rescue team was instrumental for his rescue as they pulled him out using highly specialised equipment and sniffer dogs.

“I was having difficulty breathing the dusty air,” Muhinda said faintly as he was being taken to the hospital. He miraculously sustained no injuries, but complained of insufficient oxygen and exhaustion. Most of the people being rescued had little or no major injuries. This raised hope among the rescuers to continue chiselling away, that more lives would be saved.

Ms. Tal Nain, a 21-year-old medic with the Israeli rescue team, said the team comprised five dogs, seven medics and a support team. “Even though we are 80 members in this rescue operation, each person has a key duty to play in order to save lives,” she said.

This is the third time that the Israeli team has responded to Kenya’s request for assistance in such disasters. The first being during US Embassy bomb blast that left over 200 people dead and over 2,000 people injured in August 1998, and the second being during the terrorist bomb blast at Kikambala in December 2002. The Israeli team, in close collaboration with the Magen David Adom in Israel (Israeli National Society) have also trained the Society in mass disaster management.

Crowd control was a huge problem in the initial stages of the rescue effort, but emergency responders had an easier time moving the injured to hospital and coordinating the rescue effort later after roads leading to the collapsed building were cordoned off to vehicle and human traffic.

“We are urging members of the public to donate towards this disaster,” appealed Abbas Gullet, the Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society, as he participated in coordinating part of the operation. Following this appeal, many organisations and individuals brought food, water and other supplies to the emergency site and food tents.

The Society, together with the government, set up an Information Centre at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre to cater for the needs of relatives and friends of the injured or deceased. Information on the whereabouts of people missing from the crash site, hospital or in the morgues is now available. Counselling services are also being offered to the survivors of the accident and their relatives by Amani and Maranatha Counselling Centres.

“Most of the people coming for counselling are still in shock, anxious, confused, traumatised and frustrated,” said Lilly Maina, a counsellor from the Amani Centre, adding that the shock was compounded by relatives asked to identify the dead family member in the morgues.

Moses Ngige was at the fourth floor of the building under construction when he asked his colleague to move to the adjacent construction for some other related work. As his friend was following behind to the next building, suddenly the concrete structure started crumbling down. “I immediately jumped to the building and landed onto the second floor of that building, which we were also constructing,” he said, shivering. “When I turned around I saw my colleague going down with the building,” he stammered in shock.

Ngige had come to the Red Cross Information Centre for counselling and seeking to know the whereabouts of his colleague. Immediately after he saw the building crumbling he went home, confused, bleeding from scratches and nursing his aching limbs. He never thought the hospital was an option until shock set in and he was guided to the Red Cross centre for counselling. Ngige, 25, had been on the job for only three weeks and wonders what he will do next.

For those still under the mass of debris, it will be another cold bitter night, with no food, water or sufficient oxygen. They only hope the help, which the world is closely monitoring, will come sooner than later.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]