Rakai residents sleep in the open seven months after earthquake

Destroyed. One of the houses in Minziro town which was destroyed by the earthquake last September. Victims are still waiting for assistance from President Museveni. PHOTO BY Ivan Kimbowa.

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Dire situation. It has been seven months and residents of Rakai District who had their houses and other property destroyed by an earthquake on September 10, 2016, are still waiting a presidential promise for building materials. Daily Monitor’s Ivan Kimbowa and Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa report that the Office of the Prime Minister, which coordinates relief supplies, still has more assessments to conduct as desperation piles up in the villages of Rakai

Sandra Nabiryo, 12, is a primary three pupil at Kampangi Primary School, Minziiro Parish, Kyebe Sub-county, Rakai District.
Nabiryo has in the last six months been sleeping in the cold together with parents and her siblings after a devastating earthquake that hit the area and left the family house completely destroyed.

“For all this period, there is no single night that has passed without seeing my mother shedding tears,” Nabiryo says. “It has become a routine. Whenever she cries, our father comforts her saying God has not forgotten us, He will make a way for us.”
After the collapse of the family house in Kisakala village, Nabiryo’s father, Mr Francis Kaliisa, improvised and put up a temporary one-roomed mud house with a tarpaulin serving as a roof, where the family currently sleeps.

“I feel bad to live in such a miserable situation but I have nothing to do. I cannot blame it on my parents because they are also puzzled by this same situation,” Nabiryo tells us before launching into a passionate plea: “I appeal to the government to think about us. At least they should provide us with iron sheets.”

Nabiryo, at her young age, is deeply engrossed in her family’s pitiable plight, although school sometimes, being the child she is, makes her forget for a moment about her reality. But all this returns nearly immediately.

“Sometimes when I leave school I ask myself why I am really returning home. It is not home in the real sense, we sleep like cows,” Nabiryo, who iaspires to become a doctor when she grows up, says.

Thousands of victims
Nabiryo is not alone. Many other children, numbering in their thousands from over 644 families in Kakuuto and Kyebe sub-counties, are experiencing a similar situation after their houses were destroyed by the earthquake.

Another 3,186 houses, including schools structures, also developed cracks.

Late last year, the government, through the Prime Minister’s Office, promised to help the affected families reconstruct their houses. But the financial assistance has not been forthcoming.
Residents of Rakai speak bitterly about the close to Shs 700m donation President Museveni reportedly made to victims across the border in Tanzania who suffered a similar catastrophe during the same tremor.

“We were really puzzled when we heard such news. We expected our president to think about us first,” says Mr Kaliisa, Nabiryo’s father.
The Citizen newspaper in Tanzania, on September 18, 2016, reported that President John Magufuli had received $200,000 (about Shs 677m) from his Ugandan counterpart, Mr Museveni, to help out the earthquake victims in the Kagera region.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, President Museveni visited the affected the Rakai villages and promised that the government was to give iron sheets, cement and iron bars to the victims to enable them reconstruct their houses. The president said each household was to receive at least 30 iron sheets, cement and iron bars.

Mr Museveni noted that most of the houses that were destroyed by the 5.7 magnitude earthquake were poorly constructed and needed to be rebuilt properly using iron bars. However, the president didn’t give a timeframe when the building materials would be delivered to the victims.

Mr Don Wanyama, the senior presidential press secretary, blames the problem on local leaders who he accuses of not following up the presidential pledge.

“Yes the president pledged to help earthquake victims, but have the district leaders followed it up? Or they are just lamenting? ”Mr Wanyama said during a recent telephone interview.

Massive disruption

After effects. One of the pit latrines that remained standing at Kampagi Primary School after the earthquake.


Lemi Ssengabi, 12, a pupil at Kampangi Primary School who comes from a family of nine, says it took him two weeks last term to resume studies after working so hard trying to separate good bricks from those damaged by the earthquake.

“I felt so much pain in my chest because I was not used to such hard labour .But I had nothing to do because the family had to get where to sleep,” Ssengabi says.

Edward Basiga, 15, a Primary Seven pupil at Biiwa Primary School near the Mutukula border point with Tanzania, fears that he may not continue with his studies after Primary Seven final exams this year if the conditions remain the same.

“The situation is really unbearable. If I finish my Primary Seven final exams in November, I will concentrate on looking for money to build a new house for my parents. They cannot continue sleeping like animals,” Basiga says

Mr Francis Nyanzi, the head teacher Kampangi Primary School, says the government should consider sending food relief to schools in the area since families lack what to eat at home and many parents provide nothing to their school-going children.
“We passed a resolution during our Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) meeting last term that parents who cannot afford to pay for the necessary school requirements should bring maize flour and beans in the place of money,” Mr Nyanzi says.

“However, none of the pupils managed to either pay a single coin or bring food. Parents are still coming to terms with the double tragedy of earthquake and drought; some are cooking seeds which were donated for planting during this rainy season.”

Ms Jane Benuza, the head teacher Biiwa Primary School, says the earthquake caused a serious setback at her school, leaving most of their buildings cracked, including the recently constructed pit-latrine.

“We are trying to improvise and construct a temporary one (pit-latrine) but funds are still a problem. But we are still pushing to see that we do something,” she says

Mr Steven Ssebunnya, the LCIII chairperson Kakuuto Sub-county, says some of the residents in the area who lost their houses to the earthquake are experiencing frequent malaria as a result of mosquito bites.

“They sleep in the open and there is no way they can escape mosquitos bites. It is really a terrible situation; they need urgent assistance,” he says

Assessments made

Temporary. Nabiryo (right) and a friend walk out of their new house.


Mr Solomon Ssonko, the Rakai District chief administrative officer, says technical assessment reports showing the extent of the damage caused by the earthquake were submitted to the Office of the Prime Minister under which relief supplies fall, but relief assistance has yet to be delivered to the victims.
“We are still waiting for communication from the Office of the Prime Minister since they also know about the situation,” he says.

Mr Martin Owori, the commissioner disaster preparedness in the Office of the Prime Minister, says that though the impact assessment was done after the devastating earthquake, there is another assessment that is going to be carried out before the victims receive assistance from government.

He said the loss and damage assessment of each building had been planned to be carried in late March. We could not ascertain by press time whether these assessments had been carried out and reports submitted, but no relief items had been delivered to the victims.

Mr Owor maintained, however, that it is in the government’s work plan to give each household iron bars, cement, iron sheets and other building items to reconstruct their houses.

It has been over seven months since the earthquake ravaged Rakai and left Nabiryo and others’ lives greatly disrupted. Whereas the district officials say they are coordinating the procurement of relief items to alleviate the suffering in the villages of Rakai, there is clearly no link between the desperation Nabiryo feels and the speed with which the matter is being handled in the different government departments.

Background
According to Mr Ssoko more than 664 houses including 13 primary schools, churches and health units were damaged and need reconstruction.

The September 10 earthquake, which shook most parts of Uganda, destroyed more than 500 houses in Kakuuto and Kyebe sub -counties in Rakai District and another 3,186 houses developed cracks. The most affected villages were Kifamba, Kyebe, Minziro, Kanabulemu, Kibanda, Gwanda and Kasensero, which are close to Tanzania, which was the epicentre of the 5.7 magnitude earthquake. This forced more than 4,000 people to abandon their homes and seek shelter under trees and banana plantations. Several schools were also not spared and many pupils and students still study under tree shades.

A few days after the earthquake, the government, through the Office of the Prime Minister, dispatched 10,000 kgs of maize flour, 5,000 kg of beans, 1,000 tarpaulins and 200 blankets to the affected sub -counties, but some residents rejected the relief, saying they were in dire need of building materials, not food.