Uganda Landslide Death Toll Increases to 23
The death toll from a rubbish landslide in Uganda’s capital Kampala has grown to 23, a city official announced Monday.
On Saturday, torrential rains prompted a collapse at the dump in the northern Kampala district of Kiteezi, burying people and livestock in mountains of rubbish.
“The latest confirmed dead are 23,” Kampala municipal government spokesman Daniel Nuweabine told AFP, adding that the search for survivors continued.
“Working with other agencies, we are assessing the situation and helping all those in distress,” according to him.
Yasin Ndide, the area’s resident commissioner, claimed on Sunday that five children were among the victims.
Excavators dug through the massive debris mounds throughout the weekend, as residents wailed and wept in their desperate quest for survival.
The tragedy was branded as a “national disaster” by city mayor Erias Lukwago, who warned over the weekend that “many, many more could be buried in the heap as the rescue operation continues.”
He had expressed concerns about the dangers of overflowing rubbish from the 36-acre (14-hectare) dump, which was created in 1996 and receives practically all garbage collected in Kampala.
President Yoweri Museveni said he had asked the army’s special forces to assist with the search and rescue mission, adding he wanted to know who permitted people to live near such a “potentially hazardous and dangerous heap”.
Heavy rains have lately hit several locations in Uganda and other parts of East Africa, including Ethiopia, the continent’s second most populous country.
Last month, devastating mudslides in a remote mountainous area in southern Ethiopia killed over 250 people.
More than 350 people were killed by mudslides in Mount Elgon, eastern Uganda, in February 2010.
AFP
