At least 229 killed in landslides in Ethiopia | Weather News

Residents watch as they use their bare hands to dig through the dirt in search of survivors in a remote mountainous area.

More than 200 people have been killed in two landslides in southern Ethiopia, authorities say.

The first landslide, triggered by heavy rains in a remote part of the Gofa district, occurred on Monday, followed by a second that buried people who had gathered to help, state officials said Tuesday.

At least 148 men and 81 women were killed after the disaster struck the Kensho-Shasha area of ​​Gufa region on Monday, the local communications department said in a statement.

Southern Region State Representative Alemayehu Bode confirmed the death toll and said “search and rescue efforts are ongoing.”

The state-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported earlier that five people were pulled alive from the mud and were receiving treatment in medical facilities.

Most of the dead were buried after they went to help residents of a house damaged by the initial landslide, the agency quoted local official Dagimawi Ayele as saying.

“Those who rushed to save lives, including the district official, teachers, health workers and agricultural specialists, perished in the disaster,” the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Dagimawi as saying.

Gofa is part of the country known as the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR), and is located about 320 kilometres (199 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa.

The second landslide occurred “a few minutes” after the first, Kemal Hashi Mohamud, a member of parliament, told Al Jazeera from Addis Ababa. “People are preparing shelter and providing food,” he said.

Images posted on social media by state-run Fana Broadcasting Corporation showed hundreds of people near the site of the devastating landslide, using their hands to dig through the earth.

The state was hit hard by short monsoon rains between April and May, causing flooding and mass displacement, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“The floods have affected more than 19,000 people in several areas, displacing more than 1,000 people and causing damage to livelihoods and infrastructure,” she said in May.

The southern region has seen landslides before, with at least 32 people killed in 2018 after two separate incidents within a week of each other.

The floods and landslides occurred as other parts of the country were facing severe drought, prompting traditional pastoral communities to explore alternative ways of producing food.

UN reports indicate that millions of people in the country are facing malnutrition due to recent climate challenges.