- 229 bodies recovered from landslides in Ethiopia
- Heavy rains caused deadly landslides
- Search for survivors ongoing vigorously
Rescuers have so far recovered the bodies of 229 persons killed in two landslides in southern Ethiopia.
The landslides happened on Sunday evening and Monday early, following heavy rainfall in a remote mountainous section of the Gofa zone.
The local government stated that the hunt for survivors was “ongoing vigorously,” but that the “death toll could still rise.”
Hundreds of people gathered at the scene, while others dug in the soil to find people trapped underneath.
In the backdrop, a hillside has partially crumbled, exposing a vast swath of red earth.
Dagmawi Ayele, the main administrator of the Goza zone, stated that the dead included both adults and children, while ten individuals who were retrieved alive were being treated in hospitals.
Heavy rains prompted a landslide on Sunday, and when police officers, teachers, and locals from adjacent villages resumed their search-and-rescue efforts on Monday, a second landslide happened, burying them as well, according to Mr Dagmawi.
“We are still digging,” he explained.
Markos Melese, the chief of Gofa disaster management, stated that 229 dead had been discovered thus far.
Gofa town in Southern Ethiopia, some 320 kilometres (199 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Abeba.
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According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), southern Ethiopia has been particularly affected by excessive rain and flooding in recent months.
However, landslides and floods have been reported for much longer. In May 2016, at least 50 people were killed in floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in the country’s south.
Flooding is caused by various variables, but climate change’s atmospheric warming increases the likelihood of extreme rainfall.
The world has already warmed by approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the industrial age, and temperatures will continue to rise unless governments around the world make significant reductions in emissions.
