RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Situation Update No. 9

Posted:2010-03-02, 11:11:23 [UTC]

Ref.no.: LS-20100302-25173-UGA

Situation Update No. 9
On 2010-03-07 at 03:53:25 [UTC]

Event: Landslide
Location: Uganda Region of Bududa

Number of Deads: 92 person(s)
Number of Injured: 84 person(s)
Number of Missing: 320 person(s)

Fresh landslides have been reported in different parts of the country since Bududa was hit on Monday. On Saturday morning there were reports of landslides in Kabarole. Villages in Katteebwa Sub-county, Bunyangabo County on the slopes of Mt. Rwenzori were said to have been affected. This comes a few hours after another landslide hit Kisoro District, killing three people and destroying property on Friday night. Mud and raging floods swept away part of Nyamuchengere village in Buhara Sub-county, following three days of torrential rains in the district. The Ndorwa West Member of Parliament, Wilfred Niwagaba, said that area is hilly and prone to landslides and has no tree cover to hold the soft and wet soils from sliding down the valleys where people are concentrated. Niwagaba identified the dead as Tumubweine Paskazia, her child, Agnes Byamugisha, and Turyatunga, saying that they died when River Kiruruma burst its banks and swept them away. "I would advise people living in gorges and valleys to be on the lookout for any sign of loose soils and surging waters, as the weather experts predict and warn that the El Nino will go on up to June," Niwagaba said.

The LC3 chairman for Buhara Sub-county, Joseph Baryamujura, said in addition to the deaths of three people, rains destroyed homesteads, hundreds of acres of banana planations, sorghum, potatoes and washed away bridges. Baryamujura asked the Government to help the thousands of people who are now homeless and have no food. People at the moment need relief items in terms of food, seeds, medicines, clean drinking and heavy equipment that will help them to open up roads that were blocked by mudslides. In a related development, residents of Rubaya, Kamuganguzi and Bufundi sub-counties in Kabale District have asked the Government to come to their rescue as most of their oads are cut off due to heavy rains that have been pouring daily for the last one week. The LC3 chairman for Rubaya Sub-county, Enoch Kazooba, said the Katuna-Rubaya-Bufundi-Muko road had been cut in two as most culverts were washed away and sections of the road filled with rocks and mud. "People will not be able to transport their Irish potatoes and cabbages as heavy vehicles cannot get to the area to pick the farmers produce," the LC3 chairman said.