Written by Leonard Wamalwa 2012-07-04 09:59:00 Read 386 Times

On lookers at the  landslide scene as rescue activities contiues /PHOTO/Leonard Wamalwa

Ten days after the land slide occurred at Namulembwa village of Bududa district and buried several villagers, people from different parts of Eastern Uganda are still traveling to go and witness the tragic occurrence

Some of the people entering the village are relatives of the deceased or friends while others are just curious onlookers who want to see for themselves exactly what happened as many hope to view the bodies recovered from the huge heap of soil that flattened the whole village

Hopes of getting more bodies after those of two children a boy and a girl that were recovered on Saturday are diminishing as the exercise has now entered the fourth day after the recovery of the two but with no signs of getting more bodies.

The three graders deployed by the Uganda government one week ago are tirelessly digging the soil beat by beat to ensure that no peace of it is left unturned so that anything covered in it can be recovered.

Since the recovery of the two bodies, the exercise has only scene a recovery of two carcasses of cows that were also covered by the soil during the accident

The relatives and villagers are never the less still optimistic that their loved ones will be recovered and a descent burial according to their traditions conducted.

“We still have hope that the bodies of our people shall be recovered through this exercise and we shall not give up waiting as we pray that we eventually get them and give them a decent burial according to our tradition,” said Nalela Moses a primary school teacher in a nearby school who was among the huge crowd at the scene.

Interestingly the residents in the immediate neighborhood are still set and not shaken by the occurrence despite the ongoing rains and a threat of another slide following a land crack that is said to be evident in the same area looming a landslide again.

They seem to believe that everyone will die his or her own death therefore continue staying as they wait for their fate despite the rampant deaths caused by the slides in the area for over a decade.

However most of them seem to be coming back to their senses to realize that it is a matter of life and death and therefore have started considering the governments’ advice of relocating to other safer places.

“What we want the government to do for us is to look for a good flat land where we can stay safely and continue with our daily activities such as farming and others that have been sustaining our income,”  said Robert Mateya a neighbor of the village where the slide occurred.

The area is rich in production of maize, beans, bananas and coffee among other foodstuffs that have been so tempting to the residents to keep on hesitating to accept the relocation program by the Uganda government.

Even though the government managed to resettle victims of last year’s Nametsi landslides who were bought land in Kiyandongo district near Masindi in North-Western part of Uganda.

The Ugandans are not ready to stay away from their people and more so from an area they were born, did many things from and even buried their people hence most of the victims who were resettled at Kiyandongo are said to have started coming back to their landslide-prone homes.

Sources indicated that the returnees said that the soil in the area is not cultivable and the environment is not friendly to them hence opt to remain in their high risk areas and be able to participate in economic activities that they are used to.

Incidentally the Kiyandongo area is where the office of Uganda’s Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has revealed that has land to resettle more victims of the landslides before purchasing more land to resettle those in excess.

Switch to Our Mobile Site