Landslides in southern Ethiopia kill more than 200

Posted on July 24, 2024

Lecture: 2 minutes.

A press release issued on July 23 stated that “the information currently available shows that 148 men and 81 women, a total of 229 people, lost their lives in the disaster.” Ancient method, The assessment remains provisional as rescue operations continue.

Abiy Ahmed ‘deeply saddened’

Firaol Bekele, director of the Early Warning Department at the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC), explained that heavy rainfall Extensions On the morning of July 22, the first landslide occurred, followed by a second landslide that buried those who had come to help the first victims. “On Sunday night there was a long, heavy rain… These heavy rains yes Initially, four houses were affected by the (first) landslide, and many people were mobilized to save lives, but they died in the (new) landslide. this It’s been swallowed up,” he said.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), more than 14,000 people have been affected in the area, which is about 450 kilometers from Addis Ababa and a 10-hour drive away. start The aid is being delivered there by trucks, especially from the Ethiopian Red Cross. “Agencies are ready to provide essential supplies, including food, medical supplies, and water, sanitation and hygiene support,” OCHA announced.

first minister Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed He said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of many citizens’ lives in the sudden landslide.”

One meter of clay

The disaster happened Kebele The smallest administrative division, located in are you sleeping Gezegofa (district), A The landslide was the deadliest publicly reported in Ethiopia to date.

Photos released by authorities in the Gorfa region showed a crowd gathered at the foot of a grassy hill where a large swathe of earth had fallen away, taking people with it. of We also saw residents armed with simple shovels or hoes, or sometimes even with their bare hands, trying to remove bodies from a meter of reddish sticky clay. Others carried bodies covered with tarps or sheets. exist A stretcher made of tree branches.

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Southern Ethiopia is one of many areas affected by flooding during the “little” rainy season in April and May. The “long” rainy season has begun exist June.

(AFP report)