In Nairobi’s Langata neighborhood, a large portion of a slum was completely destroyed by fire on Wednesday night, leaving dozens of people homeless.
A hundred houses were destroyed by the fire at Silanga Highrise ward Langata constituency,
Local MP Felix Odiwuor aka Jalang’o posted information about the incident on his social media.
“A very sad evening at Silanga Highrise ward Langata constituency, 100 households have been burnt down,” he wrote.
“…county fire team responded and the fire has been contained,” the MP added.
The Langata MP further said that on Thursday, his team would begin working with Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja to move the affected families into newly constructed apartments.
“…already working with Gov. @SakajaJohnson to rebuild the homes tomorrow and settle the affected families.”
The fire, which was raging quickly, was emitting enormous flames from the area.
However, it was unclear if there were any injuries in the incident based on the MP’s social media posts.
It has not yet been determined what started the evening fire.
Incident of fire breakout has been common in Langata as witnessed in 2018 where the Kijiji slum in Nairobi’s Lang’ata neighborhood, next to the Southlands estate whereby five people perished and more than 5,000 were left homeless.
The informal nature of the settlement made it difficult to quantify how many people had been displaced.
In addition to calling for a thorough investigation into the fire, the former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko tweeted that “anyone found guilty will face the full force of the law.”
Firefighters were unable to enter the slum when the fire started because there were inadequate access roads.
Firefighters apparently arrived within minutes, but the Kenya Red Cross reports that it took eight hours to put out the fire.
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