Ethiopia declares three days of national mourning

Photo: Michele Spatari Agence France-Presse The country has suffered its deadliest landslide ever recorded, with at least 257 dead.

Agence France-Presse Kencho Shacha Gozdi

Published at 0:00

• Africa

Ethiopia has declared three days of national mourning, starting Saturday, after the Kencho Shacha Gozdi disaster, where a landslide following heavy rains killed at least 257 people in a remote area of ​​the south of the country.

On the ground, as aid begins to arrive, searches continue to try to find the bodies swallowed up by torrents of red clay last Monday, while distraught survivors bury their loved ones killed in the disaster.

A rising toll

It is the deadliest landslide ever recorded in this country in the Horn of Africa, with the death toll reaching at least 257 on Thursday, according to the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA). citing local authorities, but likely to rise to 500 deaths, according to the same source.

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“The House of People's Representatives announced a three-day national mourning for the people who lost their lives in the landslide”, announced the Ethiopian Parliament.

This will “provide comfort to the loved ones and all the people of our country”, he added in a press release broadcast by Ethiopian radio and television.

On the ground, humanitarian aid and reconstruction assistance “are well underway”, specified the Ethiopian agency responsible for protection, a structure for coordinating relief has been set up, and 6,000 people must be relocated.

Aid to come for the evacuation

According to OCHA, more than 15,000 people must be evacuated due to the risk of new landslides, including young children and thousands of pregnant women or young mothers. Aid has started arriving, the agency said, including four trucks from the Ethiopian Red Cross.

Most of the victims were buried as they rushed to rescue and help after the first landslide, which followed heavy rains on Sunday in the region, about 480 kilometres (300 miles) from the capital, Addis Ababa.

Messages of condolence have poured in, including from the African Union, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, himself Ethiopian.

Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country and is often hit by climate-related disasters.

More than 21 million people, or about 18 percent of the population, normally rely on humanitarian aid due to conflict, flooding or drought.