(Thumbnail: Xinhua News Agency)
Hundreds are still missing or feared dead after a landslide demolished three Ugandan villages. The villages' rough terrain and remote location make it inaccessible to machinery so villagers are digging through the mud with their bare hands in search of neighbors and loved ones.
The landslide is just the beginning of Uganda's problems. President Yoweri (UR-E) Museveni (Moo-seven-E) is ordering those in other vulnerable villages to evacuate because more rains are coming. But the minister of Northern Ugandan tells the UN's IRIN that villagers are hesitant to relocate.
"In the Bagishu (Bag-Esh-oo) (the ethnic group in the region) tradition, people attach a lot of importance to areas ... they do not want to move easily.”
But if they stay there may be nothing left as one woman tells euronews.
“This used to be our home. My mother died here, as did my brother, the children, everybody. Nothing is left in my life.”
The villages, located in the Bududa district of Uganda, frequently get torrential rains, but the Weather Channel says this timing is unusual.
"Parts of Uganda and neighboring Kenya have been hit hard by rain over the past two months, which is usually a dry period between rainy seasons."
Locals told NTV 11 Uganda that poor farming methods were the cause of the landslide.
"We have not been adhering to conservation--tree planting and what have you-- is the cause of this problem."
President Museveni visited the villages for the victims' burial.
For now, financial efforts are being focused on injured survivors who are filling hospitals. (Sky News)
Writer: Veronica Wells
Producer: Newsy Staff
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