The death toll from a landslide at a massive garbage dump in Kampala, Uganda, has risen to 21, according to police reports on Sunday, as rescue workers continue their efforts to search for survivors.
Following weeks of heavy rainfall, a large mound of garbage at the city’s only landfill collapsed late Friday, burying homes on the outskirts of the site while residents were asleep.
President Yoweri Museveni stated that he has instructed the prime minister to coordinate the relocation of all individuals living near the dump. The government has also launched an investigation into the cause of the landslide and will take action against any officials deemed negligent, as reported by the Inspectorate of Government on X.
So far, at least 14 people have been rescued, according to police spokesperson Patrick Onyango, who noted that more individuals may still be trapped, although their numbers remain unknown.
The Red Cross has set up tents nearby for those displaced by the landslide. The Kiteezi landfill, which has been Kampala’s only waste disposal site for decades, has turned into a large hill, and residents have long raised concerns about hazardous waste polluting the environment and endangering their health.
Efforts by city authorities to secure a new landfill site have been ongoing for years. Similar disasters have occurred in other parts of Africa due to poorly managed municipal waste. In 2017, a garbage landslide in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killed at least 115 people, and in Mozambique, a similar disaster in 2018 resulted in at least 17 fatalities in Maputo.
