Zürcher Nachrichten - Search goes on after Ethiopia landslides kill 229

Humanitarian agencies were also scrambling to rush emergency relief aid to the stricken community after the deadliest such incident recorded in Ethiopia, a country highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters.

Local residents have been using shovels and their bare hands to dig through the vast mounds of mud to hunt for victims and survivors of Monday's tragedy in Kencho, a hard-to-access locality hundreds of kilometres from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

So far, 148 men and 81 women are confirmed to have died after the disaster struck in the remote and mountainous area, according to the Gofa Zone Communications Affairs Department which covers the Kencho locality, said on Tuesday.

"The search for survivors is ongoing and is currently being supported by drones operated by experts from the Information Network Security Administration (INSA)," Firaol Bekele, early warning director at the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC) told AFP Wednesday.

"The government is addressing urgent needs for food, water, medicine and shelter," he said.

Officials have said that most of the victims were buried after they rushed to help other residents hit by a first landslide following heavy rains on Sunday.

The government-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation had reported on Tuesday that five people had been pulled out alive from the mud and were receiving treatment at medical facilities.

The UN's humanitarian response agency OCHA said more than 14,000 people had been affected in the hard-to-access area, which is roughly 450 kilometres (270 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa, about a 10-hour drive.

- Children and pregnant women affected -

"OCHA-coordinated inter-agency team reached the area last night. Partners ready to deliver critical supplies," the agency said on X on Wednesday.

A UN source told AFP that about 125 people had been displaced, and that the 14,000, including 5,000 pregnant or lactating women and 1,300 children needed to be evacuated fast because of the risk of another landslide.

Millions of people rely on humanitarian aid in Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa, as a result of conflict and natural disasters such as flooding and drought.

"I am deeply saddened by this terrible loss," Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had said on X on Tuesday in his first reaction to the calamity.

"Following the accident, the Federal Disaster Prevention Task Force has been deployed to the area and is working to reduce the impact of the disaster."

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian, sent a message of condolence on X and said a WHO team was being deployed to support immediate health needs.

African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat also posted a statement on X, saying "our hearts and prayers" were with the families of the victims.

The US embassy also sent its condolences in a message on X and said the government via its USAID agency was in touch with humanitarian partners on the ground.

- 'Landslide engulfed them' -

The EDRMC official Firaol Bekele had told AFP on Tuesday that several residents had tried to save lives after four households were initially affected by a mudslide.

"But they too perished when the landslide engulfed them," he said.

He said there needed to be a "solid assessment and scientific investigation" into the cause of the landslide, which officials said was in an area prone to such disasters.

"An integrated, study-based solution is needed to address the risk permanently. This may include relocating the population."

OCHA said Tuesday that a similar, but lower-scale landslide had occurred in May in the same area, where more than 50 people had died.

Seasonal rains in South Ethiopia state between April and early May had caused flooding, mass displacement and damage to livelihoods and infrastructure, it had said in May.

In another incident in 2017, at least 113 people died when a mountain of garbage collapsed in a dump in the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

The deadliest landslide in Africa was in Sierra Leone's capital in Freetown in August 2017, when 1,141 people perished.

Mudslides in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people in February 2010.

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I.Widmer--NZN