300,000 homeless after landslides

Mar 09, 2010

OVER 300,000 people in the Mount Elgon region and the neighbouring lowlands of Butaleja, Budaka and Tororo districts have been displaced following the landslide that devastated Bududa in eastern Uganda last week.

OVER 300,000 people in the Mount Elgon region and the neighbouring lowlands of Butaleja, Budaka and Tororo districts have been displaced following the landslide that devastated Bududa in eastern Uganda last week, the state minister for relief and disaster preparedness, Musa Ecweru, said yesterday, report Taddeo Bwambale and Cecilia Okoth.

Another 500,000 people from the Rwenzori and Kigezi regions in western Uganda are at risk of landslides and floods, the minister added. A powerful landslide struck Katebwa sub-county in Kabarole district on Saturday, displacing some 500 people. A day earlier, a landslide occurred in Kisoro district, killing three people and destroying property. Ecweru warned that floods are likely to take place in other low-lying areas in the country, including Karamoja, Lango, Teso and Kampala.

Addressing a press briefing at the Media Centre yesterday, the minister said 83 bodies have so far been recovered by the rescue teams in Bududa. Over 300 people are still missing and feared dead. Only 31 survivors have been rescued from the three affected villages of Nametsi, Kubweho and Namangasa.

Following instructions given by President Yoweri Museveni over the weekend, he said the search for bodies will continue until all the dead have been recovered. The Government will only declare the disaster site a mass grave after the search is called off. He explained that the Government plans to evacuate residents in disaster-prone areas to safer places when the emergency operations are over.

The Government is also looking at the possibility of opening up a road to reach the affected communities, he added. In that respect, they appealed to the United Nations and other development partners to provide a heavy-duty helicopter for airlifting a motorized buckle scooper.

Ecweru further announced that a three-month emergency work plan has been developed to host people at risk.
The sh10b plan will include setting up learning facilities for school children, rehabilitating water sources, reconstructing roads and bridges and providing health services.

In addition, he said, a five-year programme for permanent resettlement of all people at risk is being developed. This will involve buying land in safe locations, construct new homesteads and provide them with a means of livelihood. The long-term programme is estimated to cost sh200b ($100m).

Ecweru said the Ministry of Health has provided a van to sensitise communities about health issues following an outbreak of diarrhea-related infections in the Mount Elgon region.

A total of 104 cases of diarrhoea have been reported at Bukalasi health unit, according to the Uganda Red Cross; the majority of them children. Cholera has not been confirmed yet. The minister castigated leaders who steal relief items and warned that those caught will be arrested and prosecuted.

“It is a shame that some people want to take advantage of other people’s distress. Anyone caught stealing relief supplies will be severely punished and that will serve as a deterrent for the rest,” he said. Among the items supplied by the Government so far are two generators, 500 cartons of drinking water, five vehicles and sh35m for coffins.

The minister cited population pressure as one of the reasons forcing people to encroach on mountain slopes throughout the country.

In a related development, the district disaster management committee has resolved that all the affected people be moved from Bukalasi to Bulucheke camp, which will be the centre of the emergency operations.

Of the 1,014 people who were living in Bukalasi, 153 people had by Sunday evening been relocated to Bulucheke, where UNICEF erected 35 tents.

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