A cluster of condominiums and a public school in Addis Abeba have become the epicentre of a growing urban crisis, as structural cracks have forced authorities to fence off the premises and residents in the Mikililand-Asko and Glass factory area to flee.

What began as visible fractures in walls and floors has escalated into a full-scale emergency, with city officials, researchers, and engineers scrambling to understand how it has progressed to this point. According to Desisa Tona, director of the Addis Abeba Fire & Disaster Risk Management Commission, emergency crews responded swiftly to isolate the most vulnerable areas.

“We fenced off the condominiums and sealed the students' dining hall,” he said, attributing the disaster to a mix of narrow pipes, saturated soils, and heavy rains.

He mentioned deforestation as a contributing factor.

“Eucalyptus trees have helped absorb much of the groundwater," he said. "When those trees were cut, three sources of river were left unchecked.”

The human toll remains unaddressed. Block 13 was home to 29 families, roughly 150 people being the number of displaced residents. One resident, who asked not to be named, recalled that the first cracks appeared in mid-August and deteriorated within days. He and his family were evacuated in under 30 minutes.

“Children shouldn’t see this kind of thing,” he said. “There is a school, they are registered, but now they are not here.”

He expressed little faith in officials' assurances.

“We saw small cracks five years ago," he told Fortune. "Cutting the trees was a mistake. We need a permanent and lasting solution. Forests can hold the soil together.”

Built more than a decade ago by Sur Construction Plc, the Mikililand condominium complex sits precariously on a steep slope nearby river, which descends from the Gulele Botanical Garden. Heavy sediment carried downstream and poor drainage are now being blamed for destabilising the foundations. But the damage is not limited to this neighbourhood. Similar landslides and structural collapses have been reported in the Glass Factory and Addis Sefer areas of the city, heightening public anxiety.

What is unfolding, according to city officials and experts, is not merely a failure of construction. It is a symptom of deeper ecological and urban planning breakdowns, including deforestation, haphazard development, and a neglected drainage infrastructure. Experts from the Geological Institute of Ethiopia (GIE) have been conducting daily soil and water tests on-site for the past two weeks. Preliminary findings point to a fatally flawed sewage system that allows wastewater to seep into the ground rather than directing it into the river.

“It’s the first large condominium building in the city, but it doesn’t even have a drain,” said Wendimu Seta, general manager of the Addis Abeba City Administration. “The road is built on unstable soil with no proper system in place.”