Bududa Landslide

People of Uganda are shocked with a land slide in Bududa village in Manafwa district on the slopes of Mt. Elgon in Mbale region Eastern Uganda.

Over 3000 thousand residents and infrastructure have been affected. many people who where in their homes unaware of the afternoon landslide where buried by the mudslides which rolled down from the mountain at around 2.30pm on 20^th Feb. 2010.people who where taking shelter in schools and those in the trading centre were badly injured, school children could not identify their homes because they were all swept in the mudslide.

 The roads, health centres and schools were all put down. Early morning rains continued to pour down on this fateful Wednesday from the steep deforested slopes leading to rolling mudslides.

Through a telephone interview with the managing director of the national environment management authority (NEMA) Dr. Aryamanya Mugisha, the landslide was due to the world climatic changes, land degradation on the slopes of Mt.Elgon and deforestation.

 Also the chief administrative officer (CAO), Mr. Masaba, said that the landslide was partly due to poor land use and governance policies in Uganda. Environmental organizations point at governmental officials accusing them of ignoring circumstances that lead to the catastrophe. The Ministry of Disaster will have to come up with a comprehensive to face accusations and prevent similar events in other threatened regions of Uganda.

Compiled by;

Sarah, Margret, Steven and Prosy.(During the EWA CJA Trainning).