Representatives of the Kenya Red Cross Society and China’s Blue Sky Rescue pose with a DJI T50 drone, generator and other equipment donated to strengthen Kenya’s disaster response and search-and-rescue operations
By Metro News Reporter
China’s Blue Sky Rescue has donated a drone and generator to the Kenya Red Cross to strengthen emergency response.
The donation includes a DJI T50 drone and a modified generator, which the humanitarian organization said would support search and rescue operations and the delivery of life-saving supplies during floods, landslides, bushfires and other emergencies.
The equipment is expected to improve access to hard-to-reach areas, particularly during disasters when roads and other infrastructure are damaged or inaccessible.
The donation follows the involvement of a two-member Blue Sky Rescue team in the response to the collapse of a multi-storey building in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area on October 23.
The Chinese specialists joined Kenyan emergency teams in the search for people trapped beneath the rubble, deploying specialized equipment, including high-precision radar life detectors, seismic acoustic sensors and snake cameras.
The equipment helped rescuers investigate sections of the debris where survivors might have been trapped.
However, officials cautioned that detecting possible signs of life did not mean rescuers could immediately reach those beneath the unstable rubble.
The operation brought together several Kenyan agencies, including the Kenya Defence Forces, National Police Service, National Disaster Management Unit, Kenya Red Cross, Nairobi County emergency teams and other responders.
China’s involvement also included the provision of heavy machinery by Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group, which supplied an excavator and a 25-tonne crane to support debris removal.
The Blue Sky Rescue team’s participation builds on a partnership signed with the Kenya Red Cross in August to strengthen disaster preparedness and response, including the development of county-level urban search and rescue capacity.
Founded in 2007 following the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in China, Blue Sky Rescue specializes in emergency operations involving earthquakes, building collapses, floods and other disasters.
The Eastleigh building collapse triggered a prolonged rescue operation, with six people rescued from the rubble in the initial stages. A body was later recovered on October 30, while the number of people still unaccounted for remained subject to verification as teams cleared the debris.
The incident also renewed scrutiny of construction oversight in Nairobi. Governor Johnson Sakaja said the county had not approved the building’s application for a 15-storey structure with a basement, although a change-of-use approval had been issued in 2024.
The latest donation is expected to strengthen the Kenya Red Cross’s capacity to respond to future emergencies, while highlighting growing cooperation between Kenyan humanitarian responders and Chinese rescue specialists.
Editorial note: Before publication, confirm the latest official number of people still unaccounted for and whether the donated drone has any specialized search-and-rescue modifications beyond its stated use for aerial support and supply delivery.
