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        Rescue Crews Search for Survivors After Kenya Building Collapse

   by VOA News

   Rescue crews in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are searching for
   survivors after flooding caused a seven-story residential building to
   collapse, trapping an unknown number of people inside.

   Arnolda Shiundu, a spokeswoman for the Kenya Red Cross, said
   authorities don't know how many people are trapped in the rubble, but
   added "we fear there are still several of them."

   "It is too early to speak about dead people," she said. "We don't have
   that information. We are still searching. A crane has arrived,
   ambulances are here."

   While she didn't know how many people were in the building, Shiundu
   said 44 people had been rescued from the rubble since the building
   collapsed at 9:30 p.m., local time. In total, she said, 150 building
   units and adjacent homes were affected.

   The large residential building was located in a low-income,
   highly-populated neighborhood in Nairobi called Huruma.

   Heavy rains caused flooding and landslides in many areas of the city
   that made it difficult for rescue teams trying to reach the scene.
   Earlier in the day, three people in another part of the city were
   killed after flooding caused a wall around a property to collapse.

   Kenya's growing middle class has caused an increase in demand for
   housing in the city, but building materials used in Nairobi's recent
   construction boom have come into question after several building
   collapses over the past year killed more than a dozen people.

   President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered an audit of every building in the
   country last year after eight buildings collapsed, killing 15 people. A
   report from the Architectural Society of Kenya estimates that half of
   the structures in Nairobi are not up to code.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-building-collapse/3309589.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-building-collapse/3309589.html