The death toll from a landslide in southern Ethiopia has reached at least 146, according to a local official.
The landslide occurred at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Monday in Gofa, a mountainous area of the South Ethiopia regional state, following heavy rains. Local official Habtamu Fetena reported that 96 men and 50 women have been found dead, and the search for more victims is ongoing.
The initial death toll was reported as 55 on Monday, but due to the region’s remoteness, information has been limited. Photographs shared on Facebook by local authorities depicted large crowds at the disaster site, with people digging through the dirt by hand and no visible official rescue teams.
Gofa zone is roughly 450 kilometres (270 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa, a drive of about 10 hours, and is located north of the Maze National Park.
“The area of the disaster is rural, remote and very mountainous,” an Ethiopian refugee living in Kenya who said he is from a district neighbouring Geze-Gofa told AFP.
“The soil in that area isn’t strong, so when heavy rains and landslides happen the soil immediately runs down to the ground below.”
Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country with approximately 120 million people, is highly susceptible to climate-related disasters such as flooding and drought.
The South Ethiopia regional state has been severely affected by short seasonal rains from April to early May, which led to flooding and significant displacement, according to the UN’s humanitarian response agency OCHA. In May, OCHA reported that floods impacted over 19,000 people, displacing more than a thousand and damaging livelihoods and infrastructure.
The southern region has faced tragic landslides in the past, including incidents in 2018 that resulted in at least 32 fatalities from two separate landslides within a week.
