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Kiteezi landfill disaster victims hit by bathroom shortage, more bodies recovered
People displaced following the Kiteezi dumpsite collapse are seen in tents at a school in Wakiso District on August 13, 2024. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
What you need to know:
- Of the more than 120 victims at the school, 31 are male while the rest are females and children.
About 120 victims of the Kiteezi landfill disaster, who are currently accommodated at Kiteezi Primary School playground, have been hit with shortage of bathing facilities, raising concern for health risks as six more bodies were retrieved on Wednesday.
“KCCA and Red Cross have the capacity to put in place these temporary bathrooms because people especially adults are going through numerous challenges in terms of hygiene. The established temporary toilets can't enable someone to bath especially the adults,” lawmaker Muwada Nkunyingi observed.
Nkunyingi said victims of the tragic event are currently using bathrooms of the school “which are inadequate.”
In response, Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) communications officer John Cliff Wamala said efforts are in place to ensure that temporary bathrooms are established.
Meanwhile, Monitor has seen six temporary toilets of which three have been allocated to men and the rest for females.
Of the more than 120 victims at the school, 31 are male while the rest are females and children.
Authorities say this number is projected to increase
“The good thing I have observed here is that they have been divided where men and boys are on one side and the female and girls on the other," Nkunyingi observed.
Search operations were still continuing through debris that befell residents in the three villages of Kitetika, Kitezi and Lusanja after the dumpsite collapsed on Saturday morning.
While nearly 30 bodies have been recovered since August 10, more than 14 victims were also rescued and taken to different hospitals.
A surge in the number of victims at the school partially follows a Monday directive by Prime Robinah Nabbanja, who ordered residents living 200 meters near the landfill to relocate. Many of these reportedly joined the survivors in the URCS tents.
“One of the biggest challenges, we are having now are items like sanitary pads because we have a big of women here, we call upon all well-wishers out there to come and help us out,” Wamala decried.
