Bulambuli, (UG):- The death in the Bulambuli district landslides tragedy has risen to 20 after five more bodies were recovered, authorities said on Friday as police join locals in the desperate search for the missing residents and their loved ones
The landslides were earlier this week reported to have hit several villages in Buluganya Sub County in Bulambuli District, Elgon Sub-region killing several people and leaving about 100 missing are facing difficulties due to bad weather and impassable roads.
The landslides triggered by the heavy rains that started at around 10 and lasted nearly 10 hours on Wednesday swept the villages of Musugu, Namathele and Mamolo found at the foot of Mt Elgon.
At least 45 homes were buried by the landslides, crops and livestock destroyed, plus over 20 people injured and are currently admitted to Buluganya Health Center III.
The Elgon Police Spokesperson, Mr Rogers Taitika said on Friday that 113 people are still missing, but efforts by the search and rescue team are underway to locate them.
Taitika said rescue operations, however, are being frustrated by impassable roads, which are preventing vehicles, including ambulances and wheel loaders from reaching the scene. “The police together with other sister security agencies with the help of the local community have intensified the rescue operations, that is, however, being hindered by impassable roads.”
In a related development, another landslide on Thursday morning hit about five homes and a church in Sooti Sub County, and another one swept three homes in Bulago Sub County. The bridge connecting Simu and Sooti sub-counties was also swept off when River Simu burst its banks.
By Friday, locals were still using hand hoes and elementary tools to dig through the debris and mud.
Mr John Manana, one of the residents of Musugu village said government should send heavy equipment to help in the recovery effort. “We are using hand hoes to dig through the debris and yet we know that several people, including children are still reported missing,” he said.
Bulambuli district leaders and Red Cross rescue workers were still struggling to reach the isolated villages due to unrelenting rains compounded by poor roads.
In October this year, landslides swept through Namisuni Sub-county in the same district displacing hundreds of locals in several villages and also destroyed crops and livestock.
Mr Denis Wanyoro, the district chairperson of the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) accused the government of delaying relocating people to safe places. “The government has not responded to giving people money to shift to safe places but they are quick to give condolences of Shs5 million to families that have lost someone in the disaster,” he said.
The government has been relocating households from high-risk areas in the Elgon sub-region where landslides are prone since the 2010 Nametsi landslide disaster where over 100 lives were lost. However, local leaders say the resettlement process has been moving at a slow pace.
The survivors of the 2010 landslides were relocated to government land in Kiryandongo District but later in 2019 government procured land for resettlement within the Bugisu sub Sub-region, Bulambuli District. Close to 300 families, comprising more than 5,000 people have so far been resettled.
Mr Steven Masiga, researcher and coordinator of Makerere University, Mbale blamed the continuous disasters in the area on human activities like poor farming practices and also morphological and geological factors.
“The continuous rains that keep on pounding area makes the soil unstable and is ventrally swept away. This explains the incessant landslides in Bugisu and the remedy is planting trees that can be able to impede unnecessary soil movement, ”he said.
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