By Fatuma Fugicha

The Government has set aside Sh60 million to construct a trauma centre at Nakuru Provincial General Hospital for fire tragedy victims.

The funds mainly from a contributory services will go into construction of a centre that caters for patients severely injured in the recent Nakumatt and Sachang’wan fire tragedy that caused deaths of 231 persons.

Speaking at a Press conference on Tuesday in Nairobi, Special Programmes PS Ali Mohammed said the centre aims at boosting the morale of victims traumatised during the incidents.

Mr Mohammed said, the ministry will also fast track finalisation of the Fire and Disaster Management Policy and other recommendations to ensure disaster awareness initiatives are properly met.

"We will ensure the disaster management rules are effected before the end of the year to reduce fire risks and also avoid fire tragedies, ’ said Mohammed.

He said comprehensive disaster preparedness measures would be created on major highways to sensitise wananchi on dangers of siphoning fuel.

"We have formed an awareness campaign on busy highways from Malaba to Mombasa, Nairobi to Isiolo and others to ensure people stay away from fire tragedies," he added.

President Kibaki launched a committee under the Special Programmes ministry to mobilise and raise funds to assist in payment of medical bills and provision of humanitarian assistance to Sachang’wan and Nakumatt fire victims.

Mohamed said the committee had raised Sh126 million for the victims through various donations.

He said so far Sh48 million has gone into paying medical bills, Sh300 million in humanitarian assistance and Sh2 million went into construction of a mass grave memorial site for those who perished.

In addition, Mohammed said the ministry had spent Sh15 million to compensate families of the bereaved and the victims who survived both tragedies.

"We have distributed Sh50,000 per victim as a compensation programme to victims of both tragedies," he said.

In January over 30 people lost their lives when a huge fire engulfed a Nakumatt Supermarket in Nairobi. Two days later, hundreds of residents were burnt to death as they siphoned fuel from petrol tanker that had overturned near Molo. The disasters follow a series of other fire tragedies that have lead to many deaths and severe injuries.