When Janet Juma heard screams from her neighbours house, the thought of losing her property was last on her mind.
The fire that gutted the six roomed plot at Maina Village was luckily contained before her timber house caught fire.
A neighbor had proposed to her that they evacuate the house to minimize losses in the event their rooms, too, caught fire.
That is how she ended up losing some household items to thieves, who took advantage of the situation to move her electronics to their homes.
Juma noted that this was the second time she lost property, after a fire razed down her house a year ago. Mattresses, utensils and other household items were reported missing soon after ashes settled at the informal settlement on Wednesday morning.
According to Simon Maina, some people took advantage of their vulnerability to steal mattress and other household items, from the neighboring rooms.
“Some people took advantage of the fire as a chance to steal mattress and other household equipment during the fire incident which is painful,” Maina said.
Maina village is one of the most populous areas in Nyahururu. People struggle to cope up with the high cost of living mostly at this moment when the country is experiencing economic turmoil and putting food on the table has become a major issue.
“Some people after the incident started collecting remains of nails, iron sheets and wood for recycling, which is allowed upon the owners’ permission, but stealing was unacceptable,” noted Chief Joseph Muraya.
Politicians too, took advantage of the incident as a platform to air their manifestos and also to sympathize with the victims. They promised of forming disaster management committee once in government.
The Committee will be dealing with disaster incidents in the area and also be accountable of the 5% amount of money that is always set aside for disaster and promised hotline number of fire extinguishing services working 24hours, in 7 days of the week.
“Once in government I will form a disaster management committee that will be responsible for disaster. Five percent set aside by the national government cater in cases of disaster, I will ensure that it is not misused in other fields,” said aspiring Laikipia West MP Gitau Ndichu.
“I will ensure that there is a hotline number that citizens can call in case of fire,” promised Igwamiti aspirant, Jane Winnie.
