By Alex Enebeli
Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State has donated relief materials to seven families, including 22 children who were rendered homeless when the building they were occupying collapsed on June 19, in Enugu.
Chinasa Mbah, Head Relief Materials in the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said on Wednesday that the incident occurred at Ifoh layout, Abakpa Nike area of Enugu.
The victims lost all their valuables but no life was lost.
The SEMA official said items donated to the victims included bags of rice, corn, beans, garri, and cartons of toilet soap, tomatoes paste and groundnut oil, as well as bags of salt, mosquito nets and mats among others.
One of the victims and a nursing mother, Mrs Juliana Ugwu thanked the governor for the gesture and prayed God to bless him.
Ugwu said that the incident occurred at night, just as she was about to bath her then two-weeks-old baby.
She said: “That night, around 7pm, I was about to bath my two-weeks-old baby. I had brought out the things I was going to use to bath her when I heard a crack outside.
“I told my husband. So, he went outside and saw it was the blocks of the house that cracked, neighbours also heard the noise and came out.
“They raised the alarm that everybody should come outside the building; it was not up to ten minutes we ran outside that the house started sinking and eventually collapsed.’’
A neighbour, Dr Fred Iloh, who sheltered some of the victims, thanked Gov. Mbah for reaching out to them.
He also thanked all those who supported the victims so far, and urged them to provide accommodation for the victims.
Iloh attributed the cause of the collapse to lack of drainage and poor structure, and advised property owners to always provide good drainage system and avoid building on waterways. (NAN)
