On Friday, while
excavators carried on looking for the remains of mudslide victims in a secluded
area of the nation in East Africa, Ethiopian lawmakers proclaimed three days of
mourning.
At least 257 people
were killed in catastrophic slides that occurred in the southern region of
Ethiopia on Sunday and Monday due to heavy rain, according to OCHA, the U.N.
humanitarian office. Citing local officials, it stated in its most recent
assessment that the death toll might reach 500.
“More than 15,000
affected people need to be evacuated” from the area, OCHA said.
A three-day period of national mourning will start on Saturday, according to the national assembly. Earlier this week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his "deep sadness over this terrible loss."
As rescuers combed the
rugged terrain for survivors of the day's mudslides, several people were buried
in the Gofa Zone of the Kencho Shacha Gozdi region on Monday.
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A
man and a woman react while residents and volunteers leave for the night after
digging in the mud in search for survivors and bodies at the scene of a
landslide in Gofa on July 24, 2024. Michele Spatari/AFP/Getty Images
Residents may be seen
in photos from the area standing over the covered bodies of mudslide victims
being dragged one by one out of the muddy ground. Hand shovels have been used
by diggers to pick through the muck.
Antonio Guterres, the
U.N. secretary-general, said on the social platform X that U.N. agencies were
dispatching food and other critical supplies to help affected people.
Landslides are common
during Ethiopia’s rainy reason, which started in July and is expected to last
until mid-September.
Deadly mudslides often
occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda’s mountainous east to
central Kenya’s highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya’s
Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut
off a major road.
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