8/14/2019 BUDUDA LANDLSIDES UPDATE, 12 March 2010

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bududa-landlsides-update-12-march-2010 1/1

There is both a sense of reassurance – one week after thedeadly landslides which engulfed three villages in this moun-tainous district – that affected communities are getting the helpthey need, and of concern that similar emergencies may bewaiting to crop up elsewhere.

At the Bulucheke tented camp, established by the governmentfor those affected by last week’s landslides and continuing rain-fall in the Mount Elgon region, around 2,300 people have nowregistered to receive assistance. The latest headcount showsthat 1,742 are sleeping there, with the remaining numbers ei-ther returning to homes of origin (often in at-risk, higher eleva-tions) or staying with relatives in neighboring villages.

UNICEF has so far provided 60 tents in various sizes for shel-ter, storage and other purposes. Two of those tents are beingused as temporary classrooms to support the local school; andone of them, as a first-aid site, managed by local healthcareworkers.

Also on the site are two 10,000-litre water storage tanks, in-stalled with UNICEF support, and connected to three 3-tapstances as a temporary water supply system. Water is beingtrucked in from Mbale Town, approximately 20kms away, andtreated with chlorine powder at the point of storage. Just prior to the weekend, UNICEF was finalizing a terrain survey to ex-plore the possibility of pumping water to the camp, from thefoot of a hill 800 meters away, using gravity-flow technology.

The picture in Butaleja District, a two-hour jolting car ride downthe Elgon plain southwest from here, is very different.

It rained heavily in Butaleja last week, and watersfrom the flooding which damaged homes and cropshave just begun to recede. Four primary schoolshad to close for the time being. In one of them, theempty compound was strewn with wet and tornnotebooks. Approximately 4,000 households wereaffected by the flooding, as the Manafwa and Na-matala Rivers burst their banks, flooding residentialand market areas. Humanitarian agencies antici-pate those numbers to rise amid expectations for more rain.

With pit latrines submerged and pools of water stay-ing stagnant, as populations return to their homes,the immediate priorities to address are the doublethreat of cholera and malaria. (One staff member called cholera, in this kind of situation, a “tickingtime bomb.”) At present, UNICEF is supporting thegovernment and nongovernmental organization

partners to organize water purification at the house-hold level, as part of cholera programming; and todistribute more than 5,000 insecticide-treated netsas a malaria prevention and protection measure.

Uganda is reporting unusually high levels of rainfallthis year, as a result of the El Nino phenomenon.The emergency assistance in Bududa and Butaleja

 – and continued vigilance regarding the situation inthe country’s western region – represents the acti-vation of a response and preparedness plan, devel-oped jointly with the government last year.

BUDUDA LANDSLIDES: UPDATE ON UNICEF’S

EASTERN UGANDA EMERGENCY RESPONSE Chulho Hyun, Chief of Communication, UNICEF UgandaBulucheke, Bududa District, Uganda

CHILDREN COLLECT WATER, FROM A STORAGE TANK CON-

NECTED TO TAPS, INSTALLED WITH UNICEF ASSISTANCE, AT THE BULUCHEKE SITE. WITH PIT LATRINES SUBMERGED AND POOLS OF WATER STAYING STAGNANT, AS POPULATIONS RE-

TURN TO THEIR HOMES, THE IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES TO ADDRESS ARE THE DOUBLE THREAT OF CHOLERA AND MALARIA.© UNICEF U GANDA /2010/H YUN  

ABOVE: TENTS THAT ARE BEING USED FOR AC-

COMMODATION AT THE BULUCHEKE SITE.

BELOW: COMMUNITY MEMBERS, AFFECTED BY LAST WEEK’S LANDSLIDES AND HEAVY RAINS, REGIS-

TER FOR ASSISTANCE THAT THE BULUCHEKE SITE.© UNICEF U GANDA /2010/H YUN