Landslides hit Elgon region: What could be done differently

 

By Jimmy Osuret

 

MANAFWA - Some weeks ago, landslides hit several homesteads in Manafwa district in the Elgon region causing a disruption in the functioning of the community and forcing several residents to flee to neighbouring villages for fear of their lives.

 

Fortunately, no loss of life has been reported yet.

 

Vulnerable populations across Mt. Elgon region continue to contend with repeated landslides that leave them struggling to recover.

 

In 2010, flooding of the banks of river Manafwa and landslides in Bududa district in the same region left 5,000 individuals displaced and over 400 killed.

 

Once a disaster hits, Government and humanitarian partners are quick to respond to the crises providing humanitarian assistance that save countless lives and help communities recover.

 

This cycle continues year after year but it is high time we thought of dealing with this situation differently.

 

For instance, a stronger and more strategic focus should be put on helping communities to recover, but at the same time strengthening their capacity to mitigate and withstand future landslides and increase their security and well-being in addition to dealing with their current vulnerabilities.

 

The Resilient Africa Network under Makerere University School of Public Health carried out research to determine what makes communities in the Mt. Elgon region vulnerable to landslides.

 

The study revealed that population pressure, culture and unsatisfactory knowledge on disaster preparedness were responsible for failure to overcome the effects of landslides. These situations made disaster prevention difficult.

 

The increasing population and poverty drove people to settle in disaster prone areas in search of food and livelihood to survive thus increasing pressure on the land.

 

The population increase was linked to negative land use practices like deforestation and excavation of slopes for house construction that reduced the stability of soils making them prone to landslides.

 

This has implications for mapping disaster prone areas and prohibiting settlement in these high risk areas.

 

The government initiative of relocation was identified as unsustainable because people often returned back to high risk areas. This was due to strong cultural ties and attachment to the land.

 

People continued to settle in high risk areas with assertions that ‘those are their ancestral homes' and because of fear of land grabbing which increased their vulnerability to landslides. 

 

Therefore, disaster risk reduction initiatives by government and humanitarian partners should take into account and incorporate people's cultures, beliefs and attitudes in order to increase the community's willingness to support any interventions.

 

Unsatisfactory knowledge on disaster preparedness and mitigation affected people's ability to deal with landslides.

 

Understanding weather and climate patterns is essential in enabling communities make decisions and to develop solutions to landslides.

 

However, in most poor communities of the Mt. Elgon region, there is inadequate awareness raising and risk communication.

 

Realising these gaps, Makerere University School of Public Health together with government and humanitarian partners, have been training and strengthening the capacity of communities, practitioners and leaders in the field of Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Management through a short course in Humanitarian and Disaster Resilience Leadership.

 

Amidst the vulnerabilities, we identified the positive coping strategies utilised by the community which included adoption of good farming methods, livelihood diversification and using indigenous knowledge in weather forecasting and preparedness.

 

Effort should be made to strengthen such local initiatives. Support from Government and other partners was also highlighted as beneficial.

 

Concerted efforts by all stakeholders including the community should focus on addressing population pressure, culture and unsatisfactory knowledge on disaster preparedness.

 

By doing so, communities will be better placed to lessen the impact, adapt to, recover and learn from landslides in a manner that reduces vulnerability and increases wellbeing.

 

Researcher, Makerere University School of Public Health