Sunday, 12th August. 2024
Authors: Opendi Charles (Ugandan)
Story By Joseph Winter, BBC News. published on12/8/2024.
Rescuers digging through the waste in search of survivors. Photo Credit to Joseph Winter, BBC News.
Summary
A landslide at a rubbish dump in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has killed at least 18 people, authorities have reported as they continue to search for survivors. Weeks of torrential rains triggered the deadly landslide at a Kampala landfill, burying homes in Uganda’s capital.
Background
This fateful disaster occurred in Kiteezi in Uganda's capital Kampala following weeks of torrential downpour. Kiteezi has served as Kampala’s sole rubbish dump for decades, which has turned it into a giant hill. The landslide buried people, livestock, and homes as residents slept late on Friday night. Residents have often complained about hazardous waste polluting the environment and posing a danger. To date, the search is still on for the victims as residents have put efforts, into the government and many other partners like the Red Cross.
Reports From Authorities
The city authorities have reportedly been trying to find a new site for many years. A huge hill formed by the build-up of rubbish collapsed late on Friday night, burying houses on the edge of the site while residents were asleep, reports the Reuters.
President Yoweri Museveni has ordered an investigation into how people had been allowed to live so close to the "potentially hazardous and dangerous heap", and has ordered the removal of those in what he declared the "danger zone".
On Saturday, the death toll was given as eight, including two children. Kampala police spokesman Patrick Onyango told AFP on Sunday that more bodies had since been retrieved, while 14 people had been rescued.
Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago said on Saturday that the landfill was at capacity. “This is a disaster and was bound to happen,” he mentioned.
"The rescue operation is ongoing until we are sure no one is trapped," he said.
Mr Onyango said that some 1,000 people had been forced to leave their homes because of the landslide. He did not specify how many had been living on the site, or whether they were living nearby.
Survival in the Face of Death
Many people earn their living by trawling through the piles of rubbish looking for anything that can be resold.
Men fight over a metallic door from the debris of a house hit by a landfill collapse in Kampala [Badru Katumba/AFP]. Al Jazeera news.
The Uganda Red Cross has been providing tents to those in need of temporary shelter but more support is still needed.
Similar occurrences.
Similar incidents have taken place around sub-Saharan Africa due to poorly managed mountains of rubbish.
In 2017, at least 115 people were killed in Ethiopia, crushed by a landslide at a landfill in Addis Ababa.
In Mozambique, at least 17 people died in a similar disaster in Maputo in 2018.
References
1. BBC News. Landslide at Uganda rubbish dump kills 17. Story by Joseph Winter. Published on 12/8/2024.
2. Aljazeera New. Landslide at Uganda rubbish dump kills at least 18 people. Published on 11 Aug 2024.
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