Woman’s agony as search continues for missing kin

Residents of buildings adjacent to one that collapsed in Nairobi’s Huruma estate move out on May 2, 2016. The spaces between the buildings are so narrow and one can hardly manoeuvre when carrying luggage. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Ms Achieng does not know where her mother, sister, son, niece and nephew are.

  • She has since only met one — her nephew.

  • Her mother, Ruth Auma, son Gavine Juma, sister Belinda Akinyi and her sister’s children Neville Omondi and Francine Auma were all in the family’s house.

When Yvonne Achieng left for work on Friday evening, she did not know of the tragedy that would befall her as she assured the six members of her family that they would meet in the morning.

She has since only met one — her nephew. Ms Achieng does not know where her mother, sister, son, niece and nephew are.

“I had been working on night shift for four days at the EPZ United Ruaraka. That day, I left the house at 6.30pm to go to work. Our house was on the first floor of the building. When I was leaving, it was raining and I left my family in the house,” she said.

Her mother, Ruth Auma, son Gavine Juma, sister Belinda Akinyi and her sister’s children Neville Omondi and Francine Auma were all in the family’s house.

“At around 8.30pm, while at work, my phone rang. It was my friend and since the hall where I work was noisy, I ignored the call as I always do intending to call her later,” said the mother.

A few minutes later, she heard the phone vibrate again. This time it was her cousin but she also did not pick up this call. Later, her brother called.

Her cousin also lives in Huruma, but in a different flat.

When his calls persisted, she decided to go outside the processing room and return the call.

“When I called back, the first thing he asked was my whereabouts. He then told me that he had heard rumours that a building along the river had collapsed and he wanted to know whether that was our flat,” said Ms Achieng.

Ms Achieng called her mother, sister and her neigbours but they did not answer. She then called her friend who lives in a nearby flat.

“She told me that she would go and check and confirm that the flat was not affected and that she would call me back. Before she even called me back, I called her again and she said that she was heading there. She said she could see many people running towards their flat,” Ms Achieng went on.

After 15 minutes, her friend called back and broke the bad news.

“I just sat down and I felt chills in my body. I did not know what to do or say. A few minutes later, I asked my supervisor if I could go home,” she said.

She arrived at around 10.30pm, only to find their building had collapsed. People screamed for help, a blackout and rescuers trying to find survivors.

“I just could not believe it. We had just lived in that flat for three weeks and it was there, flat on the ground with members of my family trapped inside,” said the distraught mother. On Saturday morning, Ms Achieng was informed that her nephew, Griffins Otieno, 11, was admitted at Blue House Hospital in Eastleigh. He sustained slight injuries as the house came down as he was in the toilet. He jumped out through a window.

“I was trapped inside and all I could see were stones and I recalled a movie I had watched earlier this year where the people who were trapped in rubble were calling out and removing stones one by one until they managed to get out and that is what I did,” Otieno said.

Otieno, his aunt Achieng and other survivors of the Huruma tragedy are at the Constituency Development Fund’s Huruma grounds, where they have been receiving counselling, treatment and other assistance.

“I just cannot stand the thought that my family is inside there wishing I could help. I don’t want to imagine the pain they are going through now,” said Ms achieng as she clung on to hopes of finding them alive.

She, however, said the hopes keep diminishing as the days go by because the operation is being conducted slowly.