Kampala, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 12th Aug, 2024) Esther Nalukwago, a 42-year-old mother of twins, fled half-dressed in panic when a torrent of rotting garbage engulfed her home in the Ugandan capital Kampala, in a disaster that has claimed the lives of at least 23 people including children.
“I saw one side of my room collapsing. I dashed out half-naked,” she recounted to AFP on Monday, surrounded by the remains of her home in the city’s northern district of Kiteezi.
“When I was out of the house, shaking out of fear and panic, the surrounding houses were covered by an avalanche of black soil and shortly after people were wailing,” she said.
Scores of rescuers clad in scant protective gear shivered in the morning drizzle as they searched through the fetid landslide, believed to have been caused by recent heavy rainfall.
The death toll rose to 23 on Monday, with the authorities saying previously that the victims included five children.
Unfazed by the stench and oblivious to a clutch of huge Marabou storks scavenging a sack being eaten by maggots, scrap-metal collector Nalukwago gave thanks her twins were at school when the incident occurred.
Others were not so fortunate.
“What happened on Saturday is something that will not be erased from my memory for years to come,” said Isma Mwogezi, who lost his wife and two children.
The 61-year-old told AFP that he had lived in the area for almost four decades, raising 11 children, before the incident cut two of their lives short.
Mwogezi lashed out at President Yoweri Museveni’s promise of five million Ugandan shillings (about $1,300) to bereaved families for each fatality.
“No amount of money can compensate a life lost,” he said.
Museveni, who also offered $270 for each of those injured in the landslide, clarified that the money was to help the families rather than compensate for the loss.
Standing near where his two-bedroom home once was, an angry Mwogezi still blamed authorities.
“Why wait to compensate people instead of preventing deaths?”
