Relief agency launches $1.9m for Ugandan landslide victims

Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), a local humanitarian organization, has launched a 4.5 billion shilling (about 1.9 million U.S. dollars) appeal toward its emergency and recovery interventions for over 100,000 people affected by landslides in the eastern part of the country.In a statement issued in Kampala, on Thursday, Michael Richard Nataka, URCS Secretary General, said the funds will support communities which have been displaced and those staying in areas with evident cracks in the districts of Bududa, Sironko, Mbale, Manafwa, Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Bulambuli and Kween. “URCS will support the affected people who are staying with host families, relatives and friends in safer places within the districts. This is to enable them live a dignified life as they await for a durable solution that is being planned by the government,” said the statement. “The 100,000 is only a portion of the 400, 000 people estimated by government at high risk in the districts of Bududa, Sironko, Mbale, Manafwa, Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Bulambuli and Kween,” said Robert Ssebunya, the humanitarian agency’s Chairperson.The appeal is in support of government’s request to development partners to supplement its effort in this cause. Nataka said that according to URCS’ in-depth and comprehensive assessments, the victims need shelter, essential household items, improved sanitation, first aid and psychosocial services and safe water.The appeal will cover shelter kits and tarpaulin sheeting to act as temporary shelter for the affected people. “It will include digging kits, farming tools, construction materials, seeds and tools. The appeal will also cover essential household kits, each containing blankets, buckets, jerry cans, plates, mosquito nets, cooking pots, mattresses and soap,” said Nataka. On June 25 a landslide hit four villages in the eastern Ugandan district of Bududa killing 18 people and displacing hundreds.