The death toll in the Ugandan capital of Kampala landfill, has reached twenty, with rescuers fearing it may rise even higher.
Rescuers are continuing to look for people, buried under the capital’s only landfill, after it collapsed, following heavy rains over the weekend.
The decades old thirty-six acre Kiteezi site, has been the sole landfill for the city’s four million people, during which time it has grown into a gigantic hill. It collapsed on Friday night as people were sleeping, burying homes and livestock.
President Museveni has ordered an investigation to find out why so many people were living so close to the rubbish mountain.
According to the mayor of Kampala, Erias Lukwago, there have been efforts to find another site, which have come to nothing.
“This is a disaster that was bound to happen” he said.
There have been similar tragedies around the less advanced parts of the world, especially in Africa. Many people can be found rummaging through these rubbish tips, hoping to find any discarded items that can be resold. The collapse of the rubbish tips comes too fast to allow escape.
Ethiopia lost over a hundred people, in 2017, and only a year later in Mozambique, seventeen died, buried under a mountain of rubbish.
