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KENJOSHACHA GOZDI, Ethiopia (AP) — The death toll from landslides in a remote area of southern Ethiopia has risen to 257 and the death toll could soar to 500, the United Nations said Thursday.
Rescuers continued to search for bodies and survivors in Kencho Shacha Gozdi, where large crowds of distraught people dug through the mud, often using only their bare hands and shovels.
Solomon Soma told AFP that 13 members of his family were killed, including his uncle’s seven children and his brother’s baby. “We have found 12 bodies but have not yet found my sister’s body,” he said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing local government sources, said the death toll had risen to 257. The agency added: “The death toll is expected to rise to 500.”
OCHA said more than 15,000 people needed to be evacuated due to the risk of further landslides, including at least 1,320 children under the age of five and 5,293 pregnant women or new mothers.
Aid has begun arriving in the remote area, including four truckloads of supplies from the Ethiopian Red Cross.
The landslide was the worst ever recorded in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country that is frequently hit by climate-related disasters.
Corpse in Shroud
Most of the victims were buried during rescue efforts in the first landslide hit by heavy rains in the area about 480 kilometers (270 miles) from the capital, Addis Ababa, on Sunday, officials said.
Resident Getachu Geza said he and his son rushed to help after hearing that two houses were buried. “When we got there … a massive mudslide buried everyone, including my son.”
The local government showed a vivid scene on social media: dozens of men surrounded a pit with people’s limbs exposed in the mud.
On July 25, 2024, relatives and residents held a collective ceremony near the landslide site in Kenjoshacha Gozidi district in southern Ethiopia to mourn their loved ones who died.
Other villagers carried bodies on makeshift stretchers, while in a nearby tent women wailed as they sat over a row of bodies wrapped in shrouds for burial.
OCHA said 12 injured people had been taken to a local hospital and at least 125 people were displaced. The number of missing persons was unknown.
Guterres: “deeply saddened”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his condolences over the disaster, with his spokesman Stephane Dujarric saying he was “deeply saddened”.
“UN agencies are delivering food, nutrition, health and other vital supplies to help those affected by the landslides,” Dujarric said.
The landslide site was sloping and “disaster-prone,” Senat Solomon, communications director for Ethiopia’s southern regional government, told AFP on Wednesday, adding that conservation efforts including reforestation were underway in the area when the landslide occurred.
More than 21 million people in Ethiopia, about 18% of the population, rely on humanitarian assistance due to conflict, floods, drought and other natural disasters.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said this week that a similar landslide in the same area in May killed more than 50 people.
The Ethiopian government said in May that seasonal rains in South Ethiopia state from April to early May caused flooding, mass displacement and damage to livelihoods and infrastructure.
In 2017, a mountain of garbage collapsed at a landfill on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, killing at least 113 people.
Africa’s worst landslide occurred in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, in August 2017, killing 1,141 people.
In February 2010, a landslide in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people.
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