The city of Kigali is evacuating residents from high-risk zones after heavy rains, on September 20, killed two children, and their mother and left their father injured in Kanyinya village, Gisozi sector of Gasabo District. Ntora village was also greatly affected.

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A command post was immediately established to coordinate the evacuation efforts. The households in the impacted regions are presently being identified and will be relocated by early afternoon on September 21st, according to officials. They have assured that tenants who are relocated will be provided with a one-month rent fee. The landlords to be relocated will get three-month rent fees.

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Grace Uwamahoro, a mother-of-two and resident of one of the affected areas, said support to relocate is needed given that the disaster was unexpected.

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"We are ready to relocate. The government’s support to help us rent is timely because we have no financial capacity to help us as I had already paid the rent fee,” Uwamahoro said.

Frodouard Karamuka, a resident of Ntora village, said that urgent relocation is highly needed in his area.

"We heard that heavy rains are expected and any effort to save life is welcome. As a tenant I can relocate to a safe zone although I was not financially ready,” he said.

Father-of-eight, Eugene Bugingo, who owns a residential house in Kanyinya village, said they now need construction permits to build houses that are resilient.

"I have been here for 20 years. We need guidance so that we build resilient houses. We can prepare ourselves as we mobilise financial resources. We can even request a loan from the bank to upgrade the settlement,” he said.

In August, the City of Kigali ordered all residents in identified high-risk zones to relocate ahead of the rainy season.

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Initially, 7,361 families were identified in high-risk zones. During the previous rainy season, 4,230 families were successfully relocated. The city was currently relocating 3,131 families, with 2,400 of those families living in rented houses.

Officials, on September 21, said the number could increase as some more areas were found in need of urgent evacuation after Wednesday&039;s havoc.

Who should relocate?

Those obliged to relocate are those living in identified high-risk zones, those living at a 50 per cent slope, and those between 30 per cent and 50 per cent slope where houses are constructed without complying with standards and guidelines that make the areas resilient to disasters.

They also include people living five metres from drainages that can endanger their lives, and those living 20 metres from the wetlands.

High-risk zones are also those in residential areas but in unplanned settlements creating vulnerability and are places that are inaccessible, especially during an emergency.

The identified areas that had to face urgent evacuation in Gasabo District include Gisozi around Dove Hotel, Gatsata in an area called "Mu Kiderenka”, and Nyabisindu in an area called "Mu Isibo ya Cyenda” of Remera sector.

The areas also include Mpano village in Kivugiza, and Gasharu cell of Nyamirambo sector, Nyamweru cell in Kinyinya sector, and Kagasa in Gahanga sector in Kicukiro District.