Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi visited landslide victims in Bududa this morning, delivering 25 tonnes of food aid to them.
Nsibambi did not reach the epicenter of the landslides in Nametsi Sub-County. He stopped at Bukalasi Sub-County, at a large field where about 900 people have relocated.
In a short address to the crowd, the Prime Minister said the aim of his visit was to assess the extent of the damage done by the landslides. He dismissed critics of government's rescue and recovery efforts, arguing that his office was stretched thin by simultaneous disasters in Butaleja, Kabale and Kisoro and was doing the best it could to ensure that help reaches those in need.
About 1,500 people were displaced by floods in Butaleja, particularly around the Doho Irrigation Rice Scheme. In Kabale and Kisoro it is estimated that 100 people have been made homeless by landslides that occurred in the two districts yesterday.
Nsibambi said the Nametsi landslide victims would be relocated to safer ground as soon as possible. He however did not give a timeline for this process and did not say where their new home would be.
In the meantime registration of the victims continues in Bukalasi Sub-County. Red Cross volunteers are managing the process, giving identification cards to anyone who approaches them claiming to be a victim of the landslides. So far 900 people have been registered.
Some relief packages have been handed out, with families receiving a small amount of maize flour, beans and cooking oil to get them started. Tents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are being erected to give them temporary accommodation for coming weeks and people are slowly settling in to their new lives.
Those with some money to spare are shopping for meals from Bukalasi trading center, where residents have set up shop. Meals there are not cheap, with the most affordable plate of food costing 2,500 shillings.
Not everyone has moved from the hillsides of Nametsi to Bukalasi. Several families that lost loved ones in the landslide have insisted on staying there until the bodies of their loved ones are found and given a decent burial.
joseph Elunya
Guest
