Varsity students ill-prepared for disasters

Student leaders from public universities have rated their institutions as very poor in preparing learners for emergencies.

They said they have been taken through few drills to train them on what to do when faced with danger while in a building.

Speaking to the Sunday Nation separately, the student leaders of Kenyatta University, Maseno University, Masinde Muliro University, Moi University and its constituent college Garissa University, however, had varying opinions on whether buildings in their institutions had enough  emergency exits.

This comes against the backdrop of stampedes triggered by terror scares at the University of Nairobi’s Kikuyu Campus and at Kenyatta University’s main campus library in a span of two weeks.

Around noon on April 1, a day before a terrorist attack on the Garissa University College which claimed 148 lives, some KU students were injured as they scampered out of a library following what they suspected was a terrorist attack.

Allan Nyagwencha, a student at KU, said some students had to jump out through windows from upper floors.

A memo released later that day from Stephen Mwadime, the students’ union secretary-general, said the incident was due to a miscommunication.

CASUALTIES

“The commotion was as a result of a misunderstanding between a student and a security officer. The noise from the push and pull caused panic in the students who were busy reading. We are lucky that the stampede has not caused serious casualties,” he wrote.

And on the morning of April 12, 10 days after the Garissa University attack, a student died while 167 were injured as they attempted to run out of a hostel at the University of Nairobi’s Kikuyu Campus.

Some students, having been awakened by a bang from a faulty power cable, jumped from the building’s upper floors. Francis Maina Mwangi was among them and he died while being taken to hospital.

Asked whether their respective universities had trained them on how to respond to such situations, most of the student leaders could not recall the last time a drill was carried out at their campuses to prepare them.

Maseno University Students Union chairman Charles Juma said no such training had been conducted in the past three years.

“But, in my view, we should not just turn our focus to universities only. All Kenyans need some education on how to respond to emergencies.

“This is because terrorists are not stupid people who will hit one place twice,” said Mr Juma.

Mr Juma scoffed at an announcement on Wednesday by Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru that her ministry would hold consultations with the Education ministry on whether youths should acquire paramilitary training before joining public universities.

“Every Kenyan should be trained because no one knows where next the terrorist will attack,” Mr Juma said.

However, Bill Clinton Owiti, who chairs the Masinde Muliro Universiy Students’ Organisation, said it would be a good move to have prospective university students trained on self-defence.
“Lack of exposure makes many students fear a gun,” Mr Owiti said.

COMMITTING SUICIDE

“Paramilitary training may have prevented the helplessness that led to some Garissa students being told to sit on each other before being shot so as to ‘save’ on the terrorists’ bullets.”

Mr Owiti said the design of buildings at Masinde Muliro is not badly off but training was a key ingredient in saving lives.

“We have heard of being prepared to smash windows and run away in case of an emergency. But how can you jump out of a window, say, on the fourth floor? That is like committing suicide,” he said.

Mr Owiti said the institution had organised drills before but most students “had not been taking them seriously before the Garissa attacks”.

On exits at campus halls, Steve Mwangi, who is the secretary-general of the now-closed Garissa University College, said the hostel where most of his colleagues died had two exits closed every night.

“My colleagues, whose bodies were pictured lying in a pile, must have been confronted when they could not get out through the exit doors. Only the main entrance was open at that time,” he said.

Following the Garissa attack, the chairman of the Moi University Students’ Organisation, Geoffrey Omondi, said the institution had unblocked exits in some hostels.

“I do not think there is a problem with the exits in our hostels. The safety measures are adequate so far. However, there has not been much training and the disaster management department is preparing a seminar to educate students on how to respond to tragedies.

“The university senate has also passed that there will be a police station within the university compound. The decision was passed at a special meeting on April 8, which I attended,” said Mr Omondi.

His counterpart at Kenyatta University Students’ Association, Mr George Thuku, said the institution scored big in its security measures but added that training of students would go a long way.

“Lack of training was perhaps the reason behind the injuries sustained at the university when there was an incident at the library three weeks ago,” he said.

At USIU,  the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Prof Freida Brown, sent a message to all students on April 7, saying the institution was reviewing its alarm systems and was planning to install additional CCTV cameras.