Nairobi orders a cracked ten-storey apartment block emptied and removed, saying it was built without permission

Tenants called Riruta Police Station and county officials after the bang, Citizen Digital reported on Nov. 1. Police and county enforcement officers looked at the visible cracks and told everyone to leave while further assessments are carried out. Some families left household goods behind as they searched for somewhere else to stay. Police are now guarding the building.

The county's enforcement notice, served on Oct. 31 and signed for the county's director of planning compliance and enforcement, describes the block as dangerous and ruinous. It lists the parcel as Nairobi Block 66/7880 in Riruta Ward, Dagoretti South, with 10 occupied levels. According to Citizen Digital and 254 News, the county alleges the building breaches Kenya's 2019 planning and land use law and the Building Code 2024, and that it went up without the required planning permission.

The notice orders the occupants out immediately and the structure removed. If the owner does not comply, the county says it can step in and recover what it spends as a civil debt.

Neither outlet named the owner or the builder. Officials have not said what caused the bang or when removal could begin. The order comes about a week after a high-rise under construction collapsed in Nairobi's Eastleigh, a case now under criminal investigation.