Cases of buildings caving in are not uncommon in the country, often a result of shoddy construction and flouted regulations.

The eight-storey building in Kahawa West, a densely-populated neighbourhood north of the capital, had been condemned for demolition, Nairobi county officials said. One woman who was standing outside the building when it collapsed was hurt, Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja told AFP, adding that casualties were “expected to be minimal”.

According to a Nairobi county document seen by AFP and dated October 16, the building had been constructed and occupied without the requisite approvals.

The East African nation is undergoing a construction boom, but corruption has allowed contractors to cut corners or bypass regulations.

Five people were killed when a six-storey building collapsed in a town on the outskirts of Nairobi in September 2022. In April 2016, 49 people were killed when a six-floor apartment building crumbled in the northeast of the capital after days of heavy rain caused floods and landslides.

The building, constructed two years earlier, had been scheduled to be demolished after being declared structurally unsound.