By Izunna Okafor, Awka
Panic gripped residents on Tuesday in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State, as a popular student hostel, known as Diamond Hostel, developed alarming cracks, sparking fears of a possible collapse.
The 113-room hostel, located off St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, UNIZIK Temp. Site, Awka, had been as a comfortable and affordable residence for many students, young professionals and hustlers in the capital city for years.
Upon arriving the scene following alarm raised by the residents, this reporter, Izunna Okafor, observed that the Hostel comprises two blocks — Block A and Block B (4-storey building each)— positioned opposite each other. It was, however, also observed that it was the Block A that has shown the alarming cracks that are visible along some edges and walls of the building, both on the exterior and interior, which believably triggered widespread fear, as well as a rapid and massive evacuation by the occupants.
Fallen debris were also scattered across the ground, adding to the atmosphere of urgency and fear; especially as some debris still fall off from the building periodically.
Further examination revealed some previous cracks that had been hastily patched with cement on the building indicating that the it had previously shown signs of defects — a condition likely worsened by recent incidents.
The building, which houses dozens of tenants, is dangerously situated close to a primary and secondary school, thereby heightening the risk for both residents and schoolchildren should the structure collapse.
Visibly shaken by the situation, many of the tenants were seen hurriedly evacuating their belongings from the building to safer locations.
Although when approached for comments, most of them declined to speak to the journalist, snippets of their loud conversations indicated that the landlord was already informed about the building’s deteriorating condition.
Further discussions among the fleeing tenants also hinted at prior issues with the building. According to them, sections of the walls had been soaked before the current cracks appeared, possibly due to inadequate drainage or poor maintenance practices. Speculations abound that the lingering water damage may have exacerbated the structural integrity issues, culminating in the recent visible cracks that prompted the exodus.
Notwithstanding this safety-inspired exodus, many of the tenants who have no safer place to relocate to and who have no enough money to pay for new accommodation elsewhere due to condition, still remained in the cracked building at the mercy of their own fate.
While it was gathered that the Landlord of the hostel lives abroad, efforts by this reporter to contact him for an official comment on the situation were unsuccessful, as both tenants and the Caretaker of the hostel were either unable or unwilling to provide his phone number to the reporter.
On his own part, the Caretaker and Lawyer Managing the building also declined to grant the journalist interview on the situation, but however, passively asserted that the tenants were only exaggerating the crack, while it was actually not that serious as assumed or implied.
He also hinted that engineers had been invited to examine the building, while repair and renovation work would be fully commenced on Wednesday on the building to fix the issue.
As at the time of filing this report, efforts by this reporter contact the Anambra State Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Pauly Onyeka for his reactions, proved abortive.
