Kenya should improve disaster preparedness urgently

The horrific Huruma building collapse, in which 23 people have so far been confirmed dead, has once again exposed Kenya's glaring ineptitude in dealing with disasters.

Four days after the seven-storey building fell to the ground like a deck of cards, rescue workers were still digging through the rubble, hoping against hope to pull another person out alive. Over 60 people are still unaccounted for and most are believed to be buried under the collapsed building.

We are not in any way insinuating that it is easy to sift through the tonnes of concrete and metal to bring out the victims. In fact, we salute all those who have spent sleepless nights working hard to save lives.

However, we are concerned because Kenya seems to have learnt little despite being a victim of very many disasters.

One of these was the August 7, 1998 Al Qaeda bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, which killed 291 people and wounded about 5,000. Understandably, Kenya was clearly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster and therefore the help of international rescue experts, among them the Israelis, was most welcome. The Israelis once again came to our rescue in 2006 when a building collapsed in downtown Nairobi killing 14 people.

But these tragedies, and many others, have not taught us much.

To give the devil his due, agencies, including the National Disaster Operation Centre, have been mooted to deal with disasters. But sadly, they seem to lack the expertise and hardware to respond quickly and ably when disaster knocks on the door. That's why Kenyans celebrated when some Chinese arrived at the site of the Huruma disaster with heavy machinery. Never mind that they were merely construction workers.

With terrorism, climate change and rickety buildings it would be foolhardy to assume that we can do away with disasters soon. For this reason, the Government should make it a priority to put in place a well-trained and equipped team to deal with disasters whenever and wherever they strike.