Uganda and Kenya landslides leave more than 40 people killed
More than 40 people are now known to have died after multiple landslides struck Kenya and Uganda’s mountainous border region last week.
“I lost a grandmother, a maternal aunt, an uncle, two sisters, a family friend and a cousin. They were staying together in Kaptul village,” Felix Kemboi told the BBC on the Kenyan side.
So distressed was the 30-year-old Felix that he struggled to put the experience into words.
On both sides of the border, many people are still missing and search and rescue teams have been sent out to find them, amid warnings that more landslides could occur.
“As heavy rainfall continues to be experienced across several parts of the country, the risk of landslides, especially along the Kerio Valley region, is heightened,” warns Kenyan Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen.
He is urging residents of affected areas to be cautious of any earth movements and says local authorities are moving those at risk to higher ground.
Fourteen schoolchildren were among the dozens of Kenyans killed when two mudslides struck the Great Rift Valley area, according to the country’s education ministry.
Survivors in eastern Uganda have shared terrifying accounts with the BBC.
“We were sleeping at night, we [heard] a huge sound. The neighbours came running. ‘You wake up’. The mountain is coming. My niece and brother died,” recalls Helda Narunga Masai.
Her home in Kween village was destroyed in the mudslide and she is now staying with a neighbour.
About 14km (eight miles) up the road, in Kapchorwa, three children and woman from the same household were killed.
Uganda Red Cross workers say at least 18 people have died in the country’s east, and their staff plus community volunteers are searching for the 20 people still unaccounted for across Kapchorwa, Bukwo and Kween districts.
Mande David Kapcheronge, a local leader, has told the BBC that the rescue teams are using rudimentary tools to dig up heaps of mud in the recovery.
Experts have warned against building homes in some of the affected areas in Uganda and Kenya, where landslides are a known problem.
In 2010, a landslide in the Ugandan town of Bududa killed about 300 people, making it one of the country’s most devastating natural disasters.
In response to this latest disaster, the Ugandan government is paying bereaved families 5m shillings ($1,300; £1,000) and 1m shillings to each survivor.
The Kenyan government has yet to announce compensation for survivors or the bereaved.
In Uganda, search missions have been hampered by the mudslides cutting off access to some roads.
Additional reporting by Natasha Booty
