Uganda to relocate 5,000 households from landslide-prone areas in eastern region

Uganda has allocated 50 billion shillings (about 14 million U.S. dollars) for the immediate relocation of over 5,000 households in the mountainous eastern part of the country, where landslides killed more than 30 people last month, a senior official said Sunday.

The funds will be used to relocate people from landslide-prone areas in the Mt. Elgon region to Bunambutye, a government resettlement village in the eastern district of Bulambuli, Lilian Aber, minister of state for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees, told Xinhua news agency.

Aber said that under a presidential directive, each at-risk household will receive a cash package and two acres of land in Bunambutye.

"We need all the people living in landslide-prone areas in the Mt. Elgon region to move to safer areas to prevent the frequent deaths and destruction of property caused by destructive landslides," said Aber.

Last month, the government urged people living in the disaster-prone mountainous areas to evacuate immediately after a landslide, triggered by a 10-hour downpour, left 36 people dead and another 100 missing in the eastern district of Bulambuli.

Landslides have become frequent in Uganda during periods of heavy rainfall. In August, more than 30 people lost their lives in a landslide at a garbage dump site in central Uganda following days of torrential rain. Earlier in May, landslides in the western district of Kasese killed eight people.