Citizens, MTN provide aid to landslide survivors
Prime Minister Mbabazi last evening leaving Bulobi village in Bududa district after he formally conveyed government's condolence and commiserations to residents over the Monday mudslides. He said 45 victims are still "missing" and that government is working round-the-clock to ensure those in high risky areas are evacuated, if necessary to towns. Photo by Tabu Butagira
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Hundreds of people had by yesterday began collecting relief items meant to aid survivors of the landslide in Bududa earlier this week which left an estimated 109 people missing.
KAMPALA
Hundreds of people had by yesterday began collecting relief items meant to aid survivors of the landslide in Bududa earlier this week which left an estimated 109 people missing.
Many people used social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to appeal for clothes, shoes, and other basic necessities. The effort received a major boost yesterday when MTN Uganda, through the MTN Foundation, announced a contribution of Ushs50million towards re-settlement efforts.
MTN Chief Executive Officer, Mazen Mroue, said the money would be handed to the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) to purchase non-food items for 312 of the 450 families affected by the landslide.
“Our partners, the Uganda Red Cross, have approached us with an explanation of the extent of the damage so far, and we must get involved. But we believe that all interventions aimed at improving the lives of people must be long-term and must be sustainable in nature, otherwise the cycle will always continue,” Mroue said.
Mroue called on other corporate organisations to step forward with ways of finding a long-lasting solution to the problem of landslides in Bududa.
“That is why, in addition to this, MTN Uganda –in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, is building 20 houses in Kiryandongo to re-settle some of the families who were affected by the landslides in 2010,” Mroue announced.
Receiving the contribution, Uganda Red Cross Secretary General Michael Richard Nataka commended MTN Uganda for the offer.
He said: “I was personally in Bududa on Monday evening. It is a pity that each year the cycle of landslides keeps hitting our people. It is not good to always rush to respond but the lasting solution is to find a way of supporting these people to settle in safer places where they can live with peace of mind, cultivate and live normal lives without fearing that they will be swept away by a landslide.”
Nataka said the Red Cross had supported survivors of the landslide with a few items from the URCS Mbale stores, and food from the office of the Prime Minister, but still faced a challenge with finding shelter for 3,368 people who were classified as being at serious risk.
“Where this happened there are cracks in the neighbouring villages and if it rains again we might hear of another disaster,” Nataka warned.
The Non-Food Item kits include shelter, shelter materials, blankets, mosquito nets, cooking pots, plates, cups, jerry cans, soap, and water purification tablets.
Nataka said the kits were emergency kits designed following international Disaster Response Guidelines.
