Eastleigh building tragedy: The danger of a ‘pancake collapse’
Rescue teams in Eastleigh, Kenya, are navigating the dangerous conditions of a 'pancake collapse' following a building disaster. Engineers warn that the stacked concrete slabs make the search for survivors extremely difficult and risky due to potential structural shifts.
Why it matters
The incident highlights critical urban safety and structural engineering challenges in rapidly developing areas, as well as the complexities of disaster response.
Eastleigh building: Search for missing people enters day two The “pancake collapse” identified by engineers at the Eastleigh building disaster has left rescuers facing the challenge of reaching people trapped beneath stacked concrete slabs without destabilising the wreckage.
The search and rescue operation continued on Saturday, with no one retrieved from beneath the rubble for several hours as teams worked through the debris amid fears that shifting slabs could endanger those still trapped.
Institution of Engineers of Kenya Vice-President Robert Otieno Ogallo, who was at the scene, said a visual assessment indicated that the building had suffered a pancake collapse, a structural failure in which floors fall vertically onto the levels below.
“I have been able to determine visually that this is a pancake collapse,” Ogallo told reporters as rescue teams searched for people feared trapped beneath the rubble.
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