200 families homeless after Mukuru-Jamaica slum fire
More than 200 families at Nairobi’s Mukuru-Jamaica slum spent Monday night out in the cold after a fire razed their houses.
No casualties were reported.
The fire began at about 10pm in the slum located in Viwandani Ward, Makadara Sub-county.
The aftermath of a fire on the night of January 11, 2021 at Mukuru-Jamaica slum in Nairobi County.
Residents’ association chair Rem Wamalwa said it started in a structure whose owner stored gas cylinders.
Multiple explosions sent panic through slum residents, as the fire quickly spread to houses in which people were sleeping, fanned by strong winds.
Mr Wamalwa said traders’ shades were also destroyed.
Residents assess the damage on Janaury 12, 2021 following at night fire at Mukuru-Jamaica slum in Nairobi County.
Strewn at the scene were items including pieces of clothes, torn books, commodities such as mangoes and burnt crates of soda.
It was a double tragedy for a freelance journalist whose cyber café and studio went up in flames. He lost property last December in a similar incident in the area.
The value of all the property destroyed was, however, not immediately established.
Residents assess the damage on Janaury 12, 2021 following at night fire at Mukuru-Jamaica slum in Nairobi County.
The presence of armed police officers deterred looters.
Viwandani MCA John Otieno said firefighters arrived in good time as an access road was cleared.
A stone’s throw away from the scene, residents continued to deal with the aftermath of fires which razed 18 houses on separate occasions last month.
