ADDIS ABABA, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government and aid agencies have joined forces to provide emergency support to victims of the landslides in southern Ethiopia amid widespread calls for precautionary measures to avert possible further disasters.
According to local authorities, the first landslide incident struck the village of Kencho Shacha Gozdi in the country's southern district of Geze Gofa on Sunday night after hours of heavy rains. The second landslide happened Monday morning and buried an unknown number of local community members who gathered at the scene for rescue efforts.
The death toll from the landslides has risen to 257 and could reach up to 500. More than 15,500 people were affected by the landslides, including at least 1,320 children under the age of five and 5,293 pregnant and nursing mothers, according to the latest situation update by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).
Following the tragic accident, the Ethiopian government and its humanitarian partners are currently conducting search and rescue operations as well as providing emergency humanitarian support to the affected communities.
"I have never witnessed such a scale of tragedy, with hundreds of people weeping and crying out in grief for their loved ones," an eyewitness told Xinhua on Friday. "Many have lost multiple relatives and family members. Funeral processions are currently taking place, with victims mostly being interred in mass graves."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that UN agencies are dispatching food, nutrition, health, and other critical supplies to help the affected people.
"I am deeply saddened by the loss of more than 200 lives in the south of Ethiopia following landslides triggered by heavy rains," the UN chief said on X, formerly Twitter.
On Friday, the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (DRMC) disclosed that humanitarian and rehabilitation activities are "well underway for the victims."
The DRMC said a federal team comprised of high-ranking government officials has been deployed to the affected area and has identified critical issues and necessary humanitarian needs.
As part of the ongoing humanitarian support, various institutions and individuals across the East African country are currently pooling resources to support the rehabilitation efforts. Amid the ongoing response efforts, calls are also mounting to avert further catastrophes endangering the affected community members.
Save the Children, an international aid organization, warned on Friday that after surviving a series of landslides, hundreds of children living in the remote Gofa Zone of southern Ethiopia remain at risk of death and injury from rain-induced disasters.
The UNOCHA, in its latest situation update issued Thursday, said the affected people "are at high risk of further landslides and need to be evacuated to safe zones immediately."
In southern Ethiopia, landslides are common during the rainy season and are known to cause devastating disasters, leading to deaths, injuries, and widespread displacement.
Experts argued that this year's rainy season in parts of Ethiopia comes after a particularly unseasonable dry season. Heavy rains and flooding, linked to a combination of the El Nino phenomenon and human-induced climate change, have devastated communities in Ethiopia.
A similar deadly landslide triggered by heavy rainfalls on Thursday night killed three people and displaced 24 in Decha District in southern Ethiopia, according to the Kafa Zone Communication Office.
