By Kimani Ndungu
NAIROBI, Kenya--I am sure by now you have heard of the bomb blast that rocked the central business District of Nairobi at 10:30 a.m. this morning, Aug. 7.
The city is in a state of shock. As I write, KTN news has reported 60 dead and at least 1,000 wounded so far. The target was obviously the U.S. Embassy on the corner of Moi and Haile Sellassie avenues.
However, the bomb or bombs (it is suspected there were two bombs) were placed in or outside two buildings that are adjacent to the U.S. Embassy.
One of the buildings is called Ufundi House. That building is just a pile of rubble, it just crumbled and collapsed on itself. It housed at least one secretarial college beside several private offices.
The other building is called Co-operative House. It houses several government offices including the office of the Trade Minister and the Headquarters of the Teachers Service Commission. This building is the tall building covered with glass that stands behind the U.S. Embassy along Haille Sellasie Ave.
Ufundi house was located between the Co-operative House and the U.S. Embassy and that is where they are still pulling out dead bodies.
Other people who died or were injured in the blast were in vehicles driving along the road outside the Co-operative House. At least two buses and a Matatu minibus were involved and some people died in each of them. Some cars caught fire while others were crushed by falling debris, which included plaster, bricks and wood planks.
As far as any of the members of the church are concerned, at least two members were within 100 meters of the blast. Richard Ngugi and Peter Njuguna were driving on Harambee Ave., which links Parliament Road with Moi Ave.
According to Richard who was driving, there was a strange noise, followed by severe shaking of the ground, and the next thing he knew he was physically lifted off the driver's seat and thrown clear across the passenger seat and out of the car. Peter, sitting in the back seat, just noticed Richard out of the car running toward a nearby building.
Meanwhile, a cloud of brown dust, smoke and debris filled the air around them, reducing visibility.
Peter still had the presence of mind to move the car and himself to safety,near the Ambassadeur Hotel, after which he went back to look for Richard.
Peter said he saw at least five people thrown out the windows of the glass-sided Co-operative House. Failing to find Richard, Peter came to the church office where I was monitoring activities from the vantage point of the 15th floor.
About 30 minutes later, Richard also came to the office. He too had been looking for Peter and had, after failing to locate him,reported the loss of his employer's vehicle to his employer and to the police. Naturally, the two men were overjoyed to find each other again.
As for me, I was sitting in the office typing at the computer when the blast occurred. At first I experienced the ground shake as though an earthquake was occurring. About one second later I heard a big explosion and the sound of breaking glass.
I got off my seat and looked outside the window. I saw a big cloud of dust, smoke and debris rising about 200 meters above the skyline. I saw people running every direction, unsure which way to go. At ground level, all the people would have seen or heard was the dust and noise accompanied by shaking ground.
To make matters worse, glass panes on shop window displays wereas collapsing with the shock of the blast.
Richard told me that glass was falling all around him as he ran, and he personally saw a big piece of glass fall on woman's face, and her face just seemed to peel off.
I personally walked around that area about three hours later and there was broken glass along all the roads I walked and dried blood everywhere.
I also saw several people walking around bandaged on various parts of the body and dressed in clothes discolored by dry blood.
The media here have appealed to the public to go to the nearest hospital and donate blood. They have also appealed to organizations and individuals to supply emergency medical supplies as they are strained.
There are simply too many people wounded seriously for the hospitals to cope. None of the hospitals is equipped to handle the number of casualties they have been receiving.
There is a lot of noise right now as army helicopters are taking off and landing near the office block on the open ground outside KICC building.
The army and other government security agencies have been fully deployed to assist in rescue operations. At this point, it is still not known what the death toll shall finally be.
Meanwhile, Nairobi needs the prayers of all the church that God would give us the courage to live through this nightmare and to look to Jesus Christ especially in this time of tragedy so that we can maintain the right perspective.
Sunday, Aug. 9
As of this Sunday morning, the death toll from the blast is reported to be 137, with more than 2,000 injured. The hospitals are strained to their limits, and appeals for blood, medical supplies, food and blankets are being broadcast over radio, television and on the printed media.
We are grateful that other countries are rallying to our aid. The Israeli government has sent bomb experts, doctors, sniffer dogs and medical supplies to assist in rescue operations. South Africa and the United States have also sent in surgeons, medical supplies and bomb experts. The Kenya government is grateful for this support because we have never experienced a disaster of this magnitude in our 35 years since independence. (I personally doubt anything like this has ever happened even before independence).
Nairobians are slowly recovering even though I expect that it will be a while before we can totally forget this nightmare.
On Saturday, Aug. 8, we had a special church service in Nairobi dedicated to the victims of the Bomb blast. I gave a short talk describing what I experienced from about 300 metres from the blast, what I saw later when I visited the site, the amount of suffering involved and what our Christian response should be.
Members then took turns praying for the people who had loved ones in the buildings affected by the explosion, the people still trapped in the collapsed building, the wounded in hospitals, the rescuers, the government and the whole nation of Kenya.
The outreach group then organized members who wished to donate blood so that they could all go together. They were reporting this morning (Sunday) to one of the blood collection centers that have been made available.
God's spirit has moved the Christians in Nairobi to respond in an encouraging manner. I have personally seen love in action over the last few days. For that I can only thank our Father in heaven.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998