Effective coordination is key to rescue efforts

The uncoordinated security response at Westgate is one thing that Mwaniki will not forget soon, but he believes it gave him tips on how to respond to future disasters. GRAPHIC | NATION

What you need to know:

  • Those engaged in rescue missions should have a central command post and should undergo periodic training to enable them to respond in different situations. The public should be also warned against rushing to disaster scenes because they only hamper rescue efforts. Some disasters are followed by a secondary disaster, which might claim more lives, he explains.
  • Newspapers give vital information on the causes of disasters and how they were handled. After analysing the information for many years, I have realised that the disasters that occur in Kenya are no different from those that occur elsewhere in the world. Perhaps the only difference is they dates on which they occur.
  • Mwaniki, was given early retirement  on compassionate grounds after losing three family members, spends his time training youths on safety awareness and how to be good citizens.

“Welcome to Kaviani. I have been looking forward to meeting you,” Sgt (rtd) Manase Mwaniki says, giving me a warm handshake. Kaviani is the local shopping centre, and Mwaniki’s home is a short distance away.

The former Kenya Defence Forces soldier leads us downhill along a winding path with steep slopes and streams as he engages us in friendly banter regarding how the streams become a risk to school children during the rainy season. Ever on the lookout for dangerous situations, he points out that he has  been cautioning children in the neighbourhood against crossing the streams when it rains as a slight downpour on the hills can lead to huge torrents flowing downhill.

Mwaniki walks with quick, sure steps like a man accustomed to emergency response.

His lean athletic body and black hair, belie his age. Born in 1965, he looks not a day older than 40. His friendly demeanour is markedly different from the macho look common among  those who have served in the military. 

“Terrorism is warfare but the results of terrorist attacks might also disastrous, depending on the number of casualties and how the response is handled,” he says as we settle down for the interview on disaster management.

Mwaniki, who retired in November last year, recounted his participation in the rescue mission following the terrorist attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013, and his keen interest to find ways of responding better to such incidents.

“I went to Westgate. It was one of the worst disasters I have ever witnessed. The response was uncoordinated scene. You couldn’t talk to your colleague and agree on anything. Everyone was on his own,” says the soft-spoken Mwaniki.

Frustrated by this lack of coordination, he decided to change tack.

“I usually wear a tracksuit underneath my uniform. That day, after seeing there was no coordination, I decided I would be safer looking like a civilian. So I found a secluded spot, removed by uniform, put it in a paper bag and gave it to my colleague for safe keeping,” says Mr Mwaniki.

As his colleague took his uniform back to the army truck parked outside, Mwaniki, now indistinguishable from other civilians, entered the mall to rescue the terrified victims trapped inside.

Former KDF sergeant Manase Mwaniki believes there is a lot more that needs to be done to make the missions more effective in order to save more lives. PHOTO | STEVEN MUTHINI

FIRST RESPONDERS

His many years of service in the military service seem to have affected his mannerism, so he keeps saying, “Yes, sir!” when addressing me. 

He goes on to explain the cause of his rather unusual action at Westgate.

He says it was risky for people in military uniform to enter the mall because they would have been easy target for the terrorists.

“You see, during my military career, I was lucky to have undergone training in disaster intelligence. It is a spiritual subject; you tell God to give you the courage to save lives. That is what I did,” says Mwaniki.

He went to Westgate on the first day of the attack, when the police were in charge of the rescue operation. “The primary goal in such a situation is to save lives. You try to be the first responder. If you fail to save lives, the next thing will be recovery and reconstruction. You will start recovering dead bodies and reconstructing damaged property,” he says as he walks around the small room in his home like a lecturer instructing his students.

Mwaniki arrived at the scene at midday. There were people coming from all directions, including policemen in civilian clothes and even those who were off-duty.

“We were armed and I looked for a way of entering the building. We could hear the sound of gunfire. Then I saw an officer in civilian clothes carrying a kid.  That’s when it occurred to me that I would be safer civilian clothes. That’s when I removed my uniform so that I could just blend in.” he says.

Was removing his uniform not tantamount to desertion?

“We were not at war. Even the police came in civilian clothes. The soldiers who rescued most of the people were in civilian clothes. It was about saving lives,” he asserts. adding that his bosses might have known about his exploits, but that was no time for one to brag about what they had done inside the mall.

Mwaniki says he saw the terrorists from a distance when he came across a woman and her child. The woman was hysterical so Mwaniki threatened to slap her to shock her into silence.

“The kid was also crying but I took a piece of cake from the shelves, sprinkled water on it and forced it into her mouth to stop her from screaming,” says Mwaniki, a father to three. He got hold of the woman and her child and motioned them to go on their knees and crawl. They crawled over a pool of water and hid behind some shelves. There were broken bottles all over and his body was itching due to contact with the water, which he suspected was contaminated. Later, when the shooting had stopped, Mwaniki led the terrified mother and child out of the mall through door at the back.

He later learnt that the woman and her child were from The Netherlands. He had given the woman his email address as they parted, and her husband wrote to thank him for the rescuing them. He is expecting a visit from the family soon.

After rescuing the pair, he went back to the army truck parked on the street where he removed his bloody clothes and got back into uniform. A new team was brought in and Mwaniki went back to the barracks to “decontaminate” himself.

He did not return the following day because he was assigned normal duties, and was also not feeling well after the Westgate experience. But he says the experience opened his eyes on what needs to be done in such cases.

SECONDARY DISASTER

Former KDF sergeant Manase Mwaniki who has for more than 20 years, been collecting and analysing data on major disasters in the country and abroad. PHOTO | COURTESY

The uncoordinated security response at Westgate is one thing that Mwaniki will not forget soon, but he believes it gave him tips on how to respond to future disasters.

For more than 20 years, he has been collecting and analysing data on major disasters in the country and abroad.

His source of information is mainly old newspapers, which he has collected over time and kept in one of the rooms in his Iveti Hills home. The room, which is stacked with cartons and piles of newspapers dating back to 1971, is what he calls a resource centre for the Niki Save the World from Disaster Organisation; Niki is short form for Mwaniki.

“Newspapers give vital information on the causes of disasters and how they were handled. After analysing the information for many years, I have realised that the disasters that occur in Kenya are no different from those that occur elsewhere in the world. Perhaps the only difference is they dates on which they occur,” he asserts.

For a while he veers off the topic and goes on and on, seemingly lost in his own world, and I have to cut him short by asking a question in order to bring him back to the subject of discussion.

So what would he do differently if a disaster occurred and  he were in charge?

He says people need to be made aware of the risks of rushing to the scene of a disaster since they only create confusion and hamper rescue efforts. Some disasters are followed by a secondary disaster, which might claim more lives, he explains.

On coordination, Mwaniki says rescue efforts are often carried out by multiple agencies and their actions need to be coordinated from a central point. The agencies need to rehearse together and allocate responsibilities before going on a rescue mission.

He says there is a need to establish “field hospitals” where disaster victims can be treated before being transferred to proper hospitals.

“Some patients die on the road because of traffic jams. We need field hospitals and emergency routes to hospitals in order to save lives. Time is most critical in a disaster and losing time means loss of lives,” says Mwaniki.

He notes that the available books on disaster response are too advanced and voluminous for ordinary folks to read, so there is a need for simplified manuals.

In addition, all personnel involved in rescue operations should undergo periodic training to enable them to cope with changing disaster patterns.

Mwaniki easily calls to memory some of the big disasters that have occurred in Kenya and can even remember the dates  without referring to any document.

The collapse of  Sunbeam Building in Nairobi in 1996, the bombing of the Norfolk Hotel in 1980, the Mtongwe Ferry disaster of 1994 and the 1998 Bomb blast at the American Embassy in Nairobi are some of the disasters which he recalls easily.

“In 1987 a bus belonging to the Riziki Bus Company plunged into the Thwake River, killing 62 passengers. That is when I seriously began thinking about emergency rescue. While in the army, I began a  research project on disaster management,” says Mwaniki.

He also took part in the rescue operations after a fire at the  Sinai slum in Nairobi, during which he assisted one of doctor to record information on about 50 bodies at the City Mortuary. 

Having joined the army after sitting his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) at Lanet Primary School in Nakuru, Mwaniki did not have the necessary knowledge on how to conduct a proper research, so he began simply by collecting data.

STUDENT TOO CLEVER

“I befriended street boys at the Dandora dumpsite and asked them to search for newspapers with information on disaster. They would sell the soiled newspapers to me at Sh80 per kilogramme. I would clean the newspapers before analysing the information and writing it down in  a notebook. I would then keep the newspapers for future reference,” he says.

With time, he formed a habit of keeping everything to do with his research project, including used-up biros. His resource centre has a line of used biro pens neatly strung on  some thread and he has a funny explanation for this habit:  he was always blamed by his colleagues in the army whenever they lost their pens.

“Ask Mwaniki. He is the one who is always writing something,” they would say whenever someone’s biro went missing.  As a result, made Mwaniki always put a mark on his biros and would keep them safely.

Mwaniki says he joined a college called Disaster Kenya to pursue a course in disaster management but realised he knew more than the teachers, so he was discontinued for asking too many questions.

He also had a brief training stint on disaster management with Amref Kenya and the United States Africa Command (Usafricom).

He volunteered to coordinate the rescue efforts in the Zanzibar Ferry disaster and was awarded with a certificate by the island’s leadership for his efforts.

He has compiled his research into a book, A guide to Prevention of Urban Floods and Building Collapse Disasters.

Mwaniki, was given early retirement  on compassionate grounds after losing three family members, spends his time training youths on safety awareness and how to be good citizens.

He hopes that his organisation will one day be at the centre of rescue missions and disaster prevention efforts in Kenya and the world as captured in its slogan: “I will overcome my personal pain to support the world to manage disasters and promote peace.”