Church of Uganda launches emergency response to support landslide victims in Sebei

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Church of Uganda, on December 16, 2025, launched an emergency humanitarian response to support communities affected by the recent landslides in the Sebei sub-region, Eastern Uganda, which claimed a score of lives.

The landslides also ravaged several villages, leaving many families without shelter, food, and basic household necessities.

‎The humanitarian response is funded by Act Alliance and is being implemented through the Church of Uganda's Directorate of Household and Community Transformation (HCT) under the rapid response fund.

‎The intervention announced on December 16th was officially flagged off in Kapchorwa district by the Bishop of Sebei Diocese, the Rt Rev. Paul Kiptoo Masaba, at a function witnessed by the Director of Household and Community Transformation (HCT), Rev. Agaba Andrew, as well as district leaders from Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo.

‎“The landslides have brought deep pain to our communities, with families losing loved ones, homes, and livelihoods. As the Church of Uganda, our calling is to stand with the brokenhearted, to comfort those in distress, and to restore hope where it has been shaken,” Bishop Masaba said at the flag off.

‎He added that the Church’s response goes beyond material support to include spiritual care and counselling for affected families.

‎Rev. Agaba Andrew said the response is part of the Church of Uganda’s broader commitment to community resilience and compassionate action.

‎According to Josephine Ninsiima, the program officer for environment and disaster risk reduction coordinating the emergency response, said the project targets 800 households in Bukwo, Kween, and Kapchorwa districts, with funding amounting to $149,000 (about sh500 million).

‎Under the response, households are receiving food supplies including maize flour, beans, cooking oil, iodised salt, rice, sugar, and soya porridge for children. 

‎In addition, 200 households are benefiting from multi-purpose cash assistance to enable them to purchase clothing, in line with Sphere Standards that do not allow the distribution of second-hand clothes.

‎The project is also addressing mental health and psychosocial needs through referrals and coordinated support with partners, including FHI, the Red Cross, the Ministry of Health, and district health teams. 

‎Josephine further says that a psychosocial mobile clinic is scheduled for early January, while clinical assessments are already ongoing. 

Relatedly, the Church of Uganda has deployed clergy and ministers to conduct family counselling sessions in holding centres and through home visits for the next two to three months.

‎Affected households are also receiving essential non-food items such as mattresses, blankets, jerrycans, basins, sandals, solar lights, and sanitary materials for women and girls. Plans are underway to renovate shelters for selected households starting in January 2026.

‎In the area of water, sanitation, and hygiene, the response includes the distribution of water storage drums, purification tablets, and hygiene kits, alongside regular community sensitisation sessions led by the Diocesan Health Coordinator.

'Multiple devastating landslides'

The Sebei sub-region, which includes the districts of Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo, has been subjected to multiple devastating landslides in late October and early November 2025, triggered by persistent heavy rainfall.

These events, which claimed several lives, left many families displaced, their homes and livelihoods destroyed.

In the immediate aftermath, local leaders and the victims themselves have intensified calls for a lasting solution, expressing frustration that previous temporary measures were insufficient to address the perennial danger.

In response to these pleas and the recent tragedies, high-ranking government officials, including President Yoweri Museveni and Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, have visited the region and made firm commitments to expedite the relocation process. 

A Presidential Directive was issued to immediately resettle the affected families in safer, gazetted zones.

The government has allocated substantial funds (around 50-56 billion Ugandan Shillings) to acquire land and facilitate the move for over 5,000 households.

Identified beneficiaries, following a screening process, are set to receive a specific package to aid their transition, which includes two acres of land in the Bunambutye resettlement site in the neighbouring Bulambuli District, and an additional shillings10 million in cash.

In the interim, temporary camps have been established to house displaced families while the permanent relocation is organised.