For those of you Nairobians who either live under a rock or sleep past regular hours; the international arrivals terminal and part of unit 1 departures at JKIA caught on fire and there is immense damage. Not being mentioned or addressed in the news, this mainly has affected the immigration department , port health authorities , parts of the arrival baggage screening area , kenya airways business class simba lounge, and prayer service rooms. The airport has been shut down and flights are getting cancelled . No injuries or deaths have been reported . The eventual result of this catastrophe, is that a series of delays and cancellations are set to follow in the months to come as vital systems and networks have been damaged by the fire . With part of the airport under expansive construction , space is limited and alternative solutions will most likely be unable to cope with demands that the already working systems were struggling with . I would strongly advise anyone traveling in the coming weeks to plan and prepare for delays anywhere up to a couple of days. I can only but pray that the rehabilitation of the damaged facilities strongly considers not only fires , but other hazards such as biological attacks/disease outbreak, nuclear radiation exposure, bomb/explosive device risks, as factors of emergency situations when reconstruction begins. As it appears that mechanisms to avert a disaster were either not functioning or none existent. Not to draw speculation , but had the same situation occurred during peak arrival times about 1 hour later , there would have most likely been unnecessary casualties or deaths reported and most likely from the break out of a stampede (due to narrow exit paths), mass panic and destruction of property , choking and suffocation (due to insufficient ventilation), toxic fumes produced from burning of several electronic devices and synthetic materials (read as regular hand luggage) ........are but to name a few .
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 07:37:19 +0000
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