All residents of highlands in the districts of Bunyangabu and Kasese have been asked to heed the early warning systems installed in the Red Zone areas prone to mudslides for the safety of their lives and properties. 

An early warning system (EWS) is an adaptive measure for climate change, using integrated communication systems to help communities prepare for hazardous climate-related events.

The call follows the death of 16 highland residents within two weeks, several nursing wounds in various hospitals and hundreds displaced as a result of floods and landslides caused by the torrential rains that have been pounding the Rwenzori region lately.

 A successful EWS, according to the United Nations, saves lives and jobs, land and infrastructures and supports long-term sustainability. Early warning systems will assist public officials and administrators in their planning, saving money in the long run and protecting economies. Some of the early warning systems installed in the various mountainous areas, include community radios (a set of megaphones) to discern information, rain gauges, river flood sensors and flood flags.

Beneficiaries receiving items donated by the Uganda Red Cross Society.

The call was made by Uganda Red Cross Society emergency operations manager Frank Namara on Friday, May 10, 2024, at Kigoro Primary School. This was after the Government and the Red Cross donated relief items to 200 households that were previously affected by mudslides in Kasika and Mapata villages of Rukoki and Bugoye sub-counties of Kasese.

Namara indicated that the early warning systems are handled by their own at parish levels and are well versed with technological and indigenous knowledge to ascertain seasons of heavy rainfalls then after alert the people on our public village radios.

"Unfortunately residents tend to take our messages for granted," Namara said.

"Whenever we tell them, they are supposed to seek refuge in safer places, especially in the lowlands then come back when the rainy season is gone," he added.

Supported by their international partners such as the European Union and the International Federation of the Red Cross, the Uganda Red Cross Society gave out relief items, including household core items and shelter kits to 297 displaced households both in Bunyangabu and Kasese as well as erecting two mega tents each housing 200 people at Bunaiga Primary School in Bunyangabu where the Kateebwa sub-county IDPs are camping.

Namara urged the IDPs to use the household shelter kits to set up temporary homes in safer places where they can always stay until the end of the rainy seasons.

A call to better modes of living

URC  board chairperson for Kasese Tadeo Muhindo urged people living in the mountains to adjust and embrace climate-friendly methods right from how they build their houses, practice agriculture among other activities.

"When you look around our hills, the materials used by residents to build houses are really lacking. You find a roof to heavier than the bricks," Tadeo said.

Between a rock and a hard place

Richard Kisubi said they find it hard to abandon the land of their forefathers and that he does not have the financial muscle to buy land elsewhere. 

Muhindi speaks

Kasese district LC5 chairperson Eliphaz Muhindi blamed the weather-related disasters on poor use of land in the hilly areas as the population of people increases each day.

"However we are encouraging them to plant trees and make terraces along the slopes," Muhindi said.