By Andrew Irumba
Bududa: The number of people who died in the Bududa district mudslides on Eid Day, Tuesday June 4th,2019 has sparked off controversy, with several people giving contradicting numbers.
At first one person was reported dead by the office of the Prime Minister and several others feared missing in the fresh landslides that ravaged Shisakali village in Buwali Sub County, Bududa district on Tuesday night. The deceased is an eight-year-old Primary One pupil of Bundesi Primary School in Bududa district. Several houses, animals and crops were also washed away by the landslides. The landslides follow heavy rains that started at 7:00 pm on Tuesday and lasted for over four hours. Esther Nashuwu, the mother to the deceased said that “When I heard the noise, I fled leaving behind the child inside the house which was swept by landslides.”
However, John Baptist Nambeshe, the Manjiya county MP in Bududa told the press this morning that “The only chance people got was that this bad thing happened when they hadn’t slept yet, so they were able to mraise alrms and run. Otherwise it would have been a bigger tragedy.” Nambeshe added that “So far three bodies have been recovered by rescuers but it is feared that many are still trapped in the mud.” He also revealed the injured people had been rushed to various hospitals in Bugisu region for medical attention. This is not the first time Mudslides are killing people in Uganda because in October last year landslides hit Bududa killing about 60 people, in March 2017 landslides again killed six people in Sironko district. But government is still doing plans to resettle all the people living in areas prone to mudslides and relocate them to Bulambuli district.
