New cracks emerge on Elgon, death toll hits 27

Team work. Locals use hoes to dig up some of the remains of the victims of landslides in Bufutsa Parish in Bushika Sub-county, Bududa District, this month. PHOTO BY LEONARD MUKOOLI

The death toll for Bugisu landslides that occurred about a fortnight ago has risen to 27 after two more children were killed in a fresh landslide in Zesui Sub-county in Sironko District.

Winnie Nambozo, 8, and Amos Mafabi, 5, were killed in the landslide, which occurred on Friday afternoon in Nabweya Village.

Their bodies were retrieved by locals using hand hoes after the torrential rains had subsided.
Fresh cracks have also been reported in Namisindwa District and some parts of Bududa in Bukalasi and Buwali sub-counties.

The State Minister for Disaster Preparedness, Mr Musa Ecweru, during his visit to Bududa District last week, said Mt Elgon is fragile and people living on the slopes of the mountain should relocate.

“We have lost many people and every effort must now be taken to ensure that we do not lose more people,” he said.

Mr Ecweru said government is considering compensating victims.

“We have got a proposal from the community local leaders of mobilising money to be given to the survivors to build their own houses in their interested safer places which is a good idea and solution to speed up the relocation process,” he said.

The region has registered multiple landslides that have left untold suffering this month to the affected communities, especially in the districts of Sironko and Bududa.

The Bududa District chairperson, Mr Wilson Watira, said more than 21 bodies were recovered by Saturday.

“More are still missing and are presumed to be dead because they are nowhere to be seen,” Mr Watira said.

More than 40 people were reportedly killed in the landslides, which hit the villages of Naposhi, Shikhururwe and Namasa in Bushika and Naroko in Bunabutiti Sub-county in Bududa District, early this month.

More than 300 families were displaced and currently seeking shelter from churches and schools.

In Sironko District, so far, six bodies had been recovered by Saturday and more eight people feared dead in Bunagisa Village in Shimoma Parish in Zesui Sub–county.

The survivors, who are about 260, according to district authorities, are currently living in the temporary camps at Bugimagu Primary School.

When Daily Monitor visited the camp, it found out the survivors were prompted to drink contaminated water due to lack of clean water.

Sanitation facilities were also lacking. Some had resorted to open defecation, something that could cause the outbreak of cholera in the camp.

The Office of the Prime minister (OPM) last week sent relief but residents said it was too little.

Local leaders and environmental experts have expressed fear that continuous rains are more likely to trigger more landslides in the region.

“This is a precarious situation because as it continues to rain, more landslides are likely to occur and more people will die,” Mr Godfrey Nabutanyi Watenga, the MP for Lutsekhe constituency in Bududa District, said.

Ms Sarah Opendi, former State minister for health-in-charge of general duties ( Now State minister for minerals), however, told Daily Monitor, that they agreed to buy land for victims in safe places.

She made the remarks during the launch of an oral cholera vaccination (OCV) at Lutsehe Health Centre III to prevent cholera outbreaks in the Bududa District.

“In our last year’s discussion, we agreed and decided that government should buy land for people in safer places so that they relocate themselves and we believe it’s going to be a quick method,” she said.

On cholera vaccination, she said Bududa is prone to cholera because of the frequent landslides.

“I am here to launch oral cholera vaccine to save and protect people lives from risks of cholera and other diseases,” she said.