Five die in fresh Bududa mudslide

At least five children, all belonging to the same family, were on Saturday morning killed by a fresh mudslide in Bududa District. Local authorities and Uganda Red Cross (URC) officials said the 6a.m. avalanche in Bukibokolo, a sub-county not previously mapped as perilous, followed heavy downpour that lasted several hours overnight.

Ms Kevin Nabutuwa, URC programme officer for eastern region, said the dead, aged between 3-13, were children of Mr Stephan Kuloba and Ms Elizabeth Namukwe, who both survived.

The children, she said, were sleeping in the living room and the parents in the bed room when the mass of soaked earth from uphill rolled down aggressively, breaking the house into two and burying the children.

By midday yesterday, the bodies of all the victims had reportedly been retrieved and were due to be interred afresh.

The dead have been identified as Jane Nabusiyu, 13, Isaac Wesonga, 11, Evelyn Nabutuwa, 8, and their siblings Joyce Negesa, 5, and three-year-old Esther Masiwo.

Ms Nabutuwa told this newspaper by telephone from Bukibokolo that some 10 households in Bugambi village have been affected by the latest mudslide, following Wednesday’s landslide that killed a child and injured five people in Bushubuya parish of neighbouring Bushiyi sub-county.

The Mt. Elgon slopes, heavily populated for its allure of rich soils, have turned into a death trap for residents reluctant to heed repeated government calls to evacuate. 

On March 1, between 300-350 people were buried alive and invaluable property, including a Health Centre III facility, were destroyed by mudslides that covered three hamlets in Nametsi parish of Bududa that lies on thesouth-western slopes of Mt. Elgon.

Following the tragedy, the worst of all recorded landslide incidents in the area, the central government moved about 4,000 people in danger zones to temporary encampment in Bulucheke.

It would appear government-touted effort to relocate the displaced persons to a permanent safe place, preferably in Kayunga and Bulambuli districts, has apparently hit a snag since no bureaucrat could explain the inordinate delay in moving the IDPs after the deadline for the exercise passed in May.

Yesterday, government officials in Kampala scrambled to address the new tragedy with Disaster Preparedness Minister Tarsis Kabwegyre saying they are now under pressure to relocate the people living on the dangerous mountainous slopes.

“We were already working on it but with this [fresh mudslides], the urgency has now increased,” he said without committing to any timeline.

In the wake of the March disaster, government worked with Monuc, the UN peace-keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to airlift heavy earth-moving equipments to Bududa dig up all persons buried under the debris but that official attempt froze after the machinery broke down almost immediately.

Experts, including National Environmental Management Authority’s Gorreti Kitutu, predicted more landslides in Bududa and neigbouring districts due to massive destruction of the vegetation cover by farmers.

Published works indicate that in 1970, more than 60 people, most of them celebrating a circumcision ritual in Bushiyi, were smashed to death by a landslide. Between 1997 and 1999, landslides killed 48 people and displaced 10,000 while seven others died in another landslide in 1997.