At least 16 people killed in multiple landslides in eastern DRC
The landslide deaths are the latest in a string of tragic incidents linked to repeated downpours in parts of East Africa.
A landslide in the Lubero area in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in North Kivu province killed 10 people on Wednesday night.
A recent downpour loosened the earth on a hill above a village in the Vuveyi Lac area, burying the victims as they slept in their homes below, said Alain Kiwewa, Lubero’s military administrator.
“The bodies are currently still underground. We are working to get them out,” he said by phone.
Meanwhile, at least six people have been killed in a landslide at the Songambele mine near the town of Rubaya in North Kivu’s Masisi province, communications minister Patrick Muyaya said Monday, according to local media Radio Okapi.
Nearly 100 miners were trapped in the rubble, the report said, citing a local government source.
At the same time, authorities in the Kalehe area of neighboring South Kivu province were still digging in the mud to find bodies from deadly floods that killed more than 400 people.
President Felix Tshisekedi declared a day of national mourning on Monday to commemorate the disaster.
According to Desire Yuma Machumu, head of the Red Cross in South Kivu, the death toll stood at 426 on Wednesday morning and about 1,000 people are still missing.
Aid workers expected to remain in the remote mountain area for several weeks preparing for a possible cholera outbreak, which posed a high risk to survivors due to the lack of sanitation, he said.
Poverty and poor infrastructure have made these communities more vulnerable to extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall, which are becoming more frequent and intense in Africa due to climate change, according to United Nations climate experts.
Repeated recent rains have also raised groundwater levels in the wider region, increasing the likelihood of flooding, said meteorologist and hydrology engineer Theodore Lokakao Ilemba.
“It is everywhere in Congo and in Rwanda, it is getting worse [the impact of] the rainfall and all pre-existing problems such as water drainage and land use,” he said.
Rain also triggered flooding and landslides in neighboring Rwanda last week, killing 130 people and destroying more than 5,000 homes.