Garbage landslide kills nearly two dozen people in Uganda

CNA Staff, Aug 12, 2024 / 15:54 pm

A massive landslide at a garbage dump on Sunday in Kampala, Uganda, has killed at least 21 people, according to local police.

The 36-acre garbage dump known as Kiteezi is the only one serving the whole of the Ugandan capital, a city home to an estimated 4 million people, the BBC reported. The high piles of garbage were loosened by recent heavy rains, sending it tumbling down onto houses that had been constructed near the dump. Despite the death toll, at least 14 people have been rescued alive so far, according to Kampala police spokesman Patrick Onyango. 

Writing on social media Aug. 11, Ugandan President Yoweri K. Museveni conveyed his condolences and prayed that “Almighty God rest the souls of our departed people in eternal peace and heal the injured.” He said he has directed a government inquiry into “why human settlement was allowed near the heap” and has also directed that all houses in the “danger zone” be removed. 

Onyango also said that more than 1,000 people have been displaced by the landslide. 

The garbage landslide is not the first of its kind, Reuters noted: In 2017 at least 115 people were killed by a garbage landslide in Ethiopia, and in Mozambique, at least 17 people died in a similar 2018 disaster. 

The Red Cross is on the ground assisting victims of the Uganda disaster, with emergency shelter tents erected yesterday to accommodate the displaced families.

CNA has reached out to the Ugandan Catholic bishops’ conference, the Archdiocese of Kampala, and to Catholic Relief Services, which is active in Uganda. 

This is a developing story.