Two landslides in the location of Southern Ethiopia have left over 157 people dead. They occurred. in a remote mountainous area of the Gofa zone between Sunday evening and Monday morning.
The local authority projects more bodies are stuck under, with retrieval still ongoing. According to footage, hundreds of people gathered in the damaged region, while some helped to dig up trapped bodies.
Additionally, the footage shows a partially collapsed hillside, displaying an exposed large patch of red earth.
According to the chief administrator of Goza zone, Dagmawi Ayele, the casualties included both adults and children, while 10 people narrowly escaped were under treatment.
Reports show that heavy rains lead to the Sunday landslide, leading nearby police, residents, and teachers to offer rescuing and evaluation efforts. Unfortunately, this was before Monday’s second landslide that also buried them (several) too under the mud.
According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), Southern Ethiopia is among the country’s regions that have been hit by particularly heavy rain and flooding in recent months. However, instances of landslides and floods go back further, where in May 2016, at least 50 people were killed in floods and landslides due to heavy rain across the area.
It is another call for faster climate mitigation efforts in the African region. True to that, climate change is a leading contributor of flooding through the increased temperatures that cause more and random heavy rainfall.
Additionally, there has been a 1.2C increase in global temperatures since the industrial era began. Moreover, global warming and the mentioned effects will continue if necessary climate adaptation and measures aren’t taken.
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