Prime
10,000 people at risk as new cracks emerge on Mt. Elgon
Members of Young Talent Uganda and other musicians march to KCC grounds Lugogo where they had a fundraising concert for the Victims of the Bududa tragedy in eastern Uganda. The musicians also spent the whole of last week at National Theatre holding a fundraising drive for the victims. PHOTO BY YUSUF MUZIRANSA
What you need to know:
Fears of imminent landslides have hovered over the eastern region after mudslides, triggered by torrential rains and uncontrolled farming activities, flattened three villages in Bududa, killing an estimated 350 people.
Kampala
The government last night ordered settlers on Mt. Elgon slopes to evacuate following discovery of 5-kilometre uphill fissure likely to trigger landslides that could kill some 10,000 people. Disaster Preparedness Minister Tarsis Kabwegyere, said: “Let people run away from the dangerous situation to safer places now. Please, let’s not have another catastrophe.”
His plea follows reports, separately confirmed by Bubulo East MP George William Wopuwa, that people living below the “hanging” Namisindwa hill, now considered high-risk; are reluctant to leave despite several warnings.
The Uganda Red Cross Society, in a statement issued last evening, warned that staying in upper parts of Mukoto and Bupoto sub counties in Manafwa District is a gamble on life because 33 hamlets there could be buried by landslip anytime.
“The heavy rains in eastern Uganda have caused a crack of over 5 kilometres on Mt Elgon and the crack is cutting across the upper part of Mukoto and Bupoto sub-counties in Manafwa District,” the statement signed by Ms Catherine Ntabadde, the Red Cross senior public relations officer.
Fears of imminent landslides have hovered over the eastern region after mudslides, triggered by torrential rains and uncontrolled farming activities, flattened three villages in Bududa, killing an estimated 350 people.
URCS says three villages in Nabulalo parish in Bukalasi Sub-county - where most-at-risk villagers around the area affected by the March 1 mudslide had been relocated - are within the fault line. “The villages have 834 households with an estimated population of 4,788 people,” read part of the statement, calling for increased humanitarian aid.
MP Wopuwa said a High Court injunction secured by disgruntled residents against government push to evict them from what is considered part of the protected Mt. Elgon area, had enabled unregulated cultivation on the “fragile slopes.” “Let the people move away as government plans their resettlement,” he said in an interview last night. “You cannot replace life and my people should abandon the old custom and mentality that; my father or grandfather was buried here and I will also die and be buried at the same place.” Daily Monitor has learnt that between 2004 and 2006, landslides killed nearly 30 people in the mainstream area where the fresh alert is being issued.
