By Raymond Baguma

UGANDA needs $500m (sh950b) for the relocation of nearly one million people living in landslide prone areas countrywide. The Government has made an appeal to the international community for financial assistance.

The programme will be implemented in the next three years for the mountainous regions, the disaster preparedness minister, Tarsis Kabwegyere, has said.

Besides Bududa, other landslides have been reported in Kabale, Kisoro, Kabarole, Kasese and Bundibugyo districts.

Kabwegyere was on Monday speaking to diplomats at the foreign affairs ministry offices in Kampala on the aftermath of the landslides that hit Bududa district recently.

The state minister for regional affairs, Isaac Musumba, said in the short-term, emergency assistance worth $31m (sh58 billion) is needed between March and August to relocate survivors to safer areas.

“We have so far recovered 94 bodies from the debris. We are trying to use better equipment to dig out bodies,” he said.

He said the rains have ceased, which has reduced the level of floods in the lower plains.

“Even with the lull in the rains, we are not certain whether it will not rain again,” he added.