Four feared dead, two injured in Bunyangabu landslide

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At least four people are feared dead and two have been injured following a Thursday landslide in Kateebwa sub-county in Bunyangabu District.

Irene Nakasiita, the Uganda Red Cross Society spokesperson said two houses caved in due to landslides that occurred today afternoon.

“The community experienced intense rain for about 4 hours (from 2:00 pm) today and caused this havoc. Our response team, working with the community, is on the ground to respond to the incident,” Nakasiita said.

She noted that the two who were injured were taken to hospital.

“The four bodies are being removed from the debris.  The response team continues to support those affected.  Two house structures were brought down. We still await the assessment report to share more details,” she added.

Bunyangabu is one of those districts prone to landslides in the country. Others are Manafwa, Bududa, Kisoro, Sironko, Kapchorwa, Kween among others.

In March 2022, the community surrounding Kyatwa Hill in Bunyangabu were cautioned against carrying out agricultural practices that are destroying the terrain.

The hill, which has an elevation of 1,397 meters above sea level and covers 250 hectares of land, has 600 families carrying out different agricultural practices which have adversely affected the land terrain, making it a potential disaster area.

According to Edgar Muganzi, the senior environmental officer Bunyangabu district, Kyatwa Hill is a fragile resource that needs to be protected to avoid calamities like landslides, increased strong winds and hail storms, damage of land and infrastructure and death which will most likely occur if the current agricultural practices continue.

Muganzi asked the community to embrace planting of indigenous tree species that will hold water and control soil erosion in the long run.

“The only way to preserve our hill is by planting more trees. It is unfortunate that some of you are given free tree seedlings from the district but you leave them to rot and get wasted instead of planting them on this hill which might turn into a potential threat soon,” he noted.

He asked residents not to boycott tree planting fearing the fact that it will consume all the land for cultivation but rather look at it as an environmental conservation method that will help control calamities that may not be easy to manage.

Gerald Tumwesigye, the agricultural officer Bunyangabu district, asked the community to embrace coffee farming on Kyatwa hill. 

He said instead of residents practising other farming activities like cattle keeping that promotes soil erosion, coffee farming is a venture that will preserve the hill and at the same time help earn money which will help to uplift household income.