A hospital building in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, has collapsed following a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall.
The affected facility, identified as UNICEM Hospital, reportedly collapsed on Thursday, August 13, after hours of torrential rain destabilised the hillside on which the structure was located.
Videos circulating on social media showed portions of the hospital giving way as residents watched from a safe distance. A Calabar-based pharmacist, Mekzy, who shared one of the videos on X, attributed the collapse to a landslide caused by the heavy downpour.
As of Friday, there was no official confirmation of casualties. While eyewitnesses said the incident caused panic in the area, emergency authorities had yet to confirm whether anyone was trapped or injured.
Footage from the scene showed a large mass of earth sliding into the hospital premises before parts of the building collapsed, leaving concrete rubble and exposed reinforcement rods.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about Calabar’s vulnerability to landslides, flooding and erosion during the rainy season.
It has also renewed scrutiny of construction on unstable slopes, inadequate drainage systems and enforcement of building regulations in areas vulnerable to erosion and landslides.
The collapse is expected to intensify calls for stricter building controls and mandatory geotechnical assessments before construction is approved in erosion- and landslide-prone areas.
As of the time of filing, neither the Cross River State Government nor relevant emergency management agencies had issued a detailed official statement on the incident.
