Residents still missing 48 hours after tragedy

The mother of 9-year-old Arnold Mpuuga sent him out early Saturday morning to buy sugar and charcoal so that she could prepare breakfast for the family and before her husband departed for work.

Mpuuga found the nearby shop closed, prompting him to move farther upland to Kiteezi trading centre.

The boy returned about an hour later, but to the sight of horror and despair: the place he left as home had been carpeted by garbage sludge from a collapsed Kiteezi dumpsite.

His parents were no more and, just like that, Mpuuga said he became an orphan.  

“Right now I don’t know any relatives. Our village is in Hoima [City],” he said, sobbing uncontrollably.

The family had relocated to what turned out a death trap for the heads only a fortnight before the Saturday calamity. We were unable to establish where they lived prior and what prompted the relocation.

But Mpuuga’s parents are among dozens buried alive by debris and whose bodies are not among the 21 that police said had been retrieved by 9pm last night.

Operators of heavy earth moving equipment continued to plough through mounds of loosened solid waste, scooping off layers to reveal human remains after rescuers said chances of finding anybody underneath alive had diminished 48 hours after the incident.

Mr Archiles Kiwanuka, one of the affected residents, had just cleared tuition for his three children when tragedy struck, claiming them and their mother.  “They were [to start] examinations [yesterday]…I fought as a man and cleared all their school dues,” said the father who got a distress call from a neighbor while already at his work place in downtown Kampala.

“My friend informed me that my house had been covered with garbage which prompted me to go back, only to find all my people covered and all property destroyed,” Mr Kiwanuka added.

A number of relatives huddled at a reception marquee erected by Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) on Kiteezi Church of Uganda grounds, awaiting news on recovery of bodies of loved ones believed buried under the debris.

Ms Alice Nakate was one of them. Although a resident, she and relatives didn’t spend the fateful night at home, but her four tenants and their families perished.

“Three of these tenants were married and the last one was living with his brother. The first tenant had two children, the second had one child, and the third had three children,” she said.

Her premises alone lost 13 people whose bodies have not been retrieved, Ms Nakate noted, spelling trouble in estimation of the exact number of fatalities.

In Kitezi, Mr Ronald Kimera, just like new widower Kiwanuka, lost three children and his wife and all his house properties.

“I had gone for work but received a call from my in-law at around 7:30am and on returning, I couldn’t even see where my house stood,” he said.

The government promised more earth moving equipment would be on site today to accelerate excavations after irate residents criticised what they said was an initial delayed rescue response and now slower retrieval of bodies.  

By yesterday, joint security teams had sealed off the excavation area, blocking curious onlookers and journalists away.

The State Minister for Disaster Preparedness, Ms Lilian Aber, while distributing relief items to distraught victims at Kiteezi Church of Uganda Grounds, said more 100 houses were buried, according to accounts by residents.

“As government, we are, however, verifying these claims and a correct number will be reported,” she said.