Collapsing Buildings, Fires and 'Selective' Memory

I wasn't there when it happened, wasn't even aware what happened until two days later, but the image of it in the papers makes me shudder and worry. It makes me worry that in a week, in two weeks, we'll forget. That we'll be back to focusing on politicians bickering like old biddies who cannot agree on the color of their curtains.

A few days ago, a building under construction in Kiambu town collapsed. Kiambu is in the outskirts of Kenya's capital, Nairobi,
heading towards the Central Province. Seven people had been reported dead and several are still missing.

I cannot even begin to imagine the anguish these families are going through. And what worries me so is that soon, we'll forget about this tragedy.

This is not the first time a building under construction has collapsed in Kenya. Back in 2006, a building at Nyamakima in downtown Nairobi collapsed due to poor engineering and architectural designs. For a while, the government, the city council and the masses were outraged that something like this could happen. We went around shaking our heads, looking to blame someone - the government, the city council, the town clerk, the ministry.
We began to form strategies on disaster management, strategies on building inspection, strategies on safety on construction sites.

The hype lasted about a month, and like always, we forgot about it.

Come 2009 and the Downtown branch of Nakumatt went up in flames. We were outraged that the fire engines took forever to show up, even though the fire station was a few minutes away. We were outraged that the security guards locked people IN, to prevent them from robbing the supermarket, while the store was on fire.
For days, we passed by the scorched former-Nakumatt, the black grime, the yellow tape with 'Crime Scene' on it, shaking our heads and feeling sorry for all who died.
We formed strategies on fire hazards, fire safety and fire prevention. There were fire drills, buildings stocked up on fire extinguishers and there was talk of setting up fire hydrants in the city. After a while, we forgot.

But the families, they can never forget. They know they buried their loved one after she burned to death in a supermarket. They know they buried their loved one after a slab of concrete fell on his head. The bereaved don't forget - they buried a son, a father, a brother, a friend.

No one wants to burn alive, no one wants to die from suffocation because one man took a shortcut.
We owe it to the deceased not to forget. We owe it to ourselves to make this world safer - for us and for our future generation.