Mombasa County Government has been forced to evacuate all patients at the largest referral hospital, Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital (CGTRH) in preparation for a controlled demolition of a condemned building scheduled for Wednesday from 7: 30am.
Addressing the press at the condemned building area on Tuesday, Mombasa Governor, Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir said the exercise poses major threats, urging occupants surrounding the area to vacate before the scheduled demolition time.
The governor said the impact of the bombing of the building will be executed by KDF soldiers and may seriously affect their health, a reason why the locals in the nearby buildings should vacate until an order of returning to their residences is issued by authorities.
“The Mombasa County Chief reiterated that they have been forced to bring down the building since it poses dangers to locals around.
“If we have been forced to evacuate patients at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital so that they are not affected by the controlled demolition, then we should all understand that this is a very necessary exercise we must take to ensure our people are safe,” he noted.
The governor added that the demolition exercise to be undertaken by Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) will affect people and activities of about 1.2 kilometers radius, further urging locals to stay away until an announcement is made for them to carry on with their daily activities.
“This eight-hour operation will affect normal activities at the Macknnon market, Sabasaba junction, Buxton area and the City blue hotel at the Nyali bridge since it is located adjacent to the Indian Ocean. We will briefly close the Nyali bridge too,” stated Nassir.
He however, urged locals not to vacate their houses with their belongings since the exercise will not affected their houses.
“Just leave your windows open so that the dust can easily escape through the windows but do not carry your belongings, since immediately after the exercise and confirmation that the area is safe, you will go back to your houses. Everything will return to normalcy,” he added.
Nassir flanked by Mombasa County Commissioner Ahmed Nur Hassan and his Lands County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Mohammed Hussein (Amadoh) further cautioned that any school and Madrassa activities and other business activities within 1.2 kilometeres from the condemned building should be closed until a safety announcement is made to the public.
Mombasa has witnessed some random incidents where buildings under construction collapsed, the recent one suspected to have buried one person.
However, Nassir says he is yet to confirm the reports since operations to remove debris at the accident scene are ongoing.
