Bududa, Uganda | AFP | At least 41 people were killed after a river in eastern Uganda burst its banks, sending a torrent of mud and rocks barrelling into homes, disaster officials and survivors said Friday. Rescue teams continued picking through the rubble late Friday, searching for survivors and victims …
Read More »Our nation’s next disaster
How the re-launch of Uganda Airlines is most likely going to bring our country to tears – unless THE LAST WORD | ANDREW MWENDA | The decision by Uganda government to re-establish a state-run airline is a strategic blunder. More than two decades ago, Uganda took a strategic decision to …
Read More »Kenya floods leave 112 dead in two months: Red Cross
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Flooding across Kenya triggered by weeks of torrential rain has left 112 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others, the Red Cross said Friday. Kenya Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet made an appeal for $5 million (four million euros) to help those …
Read More »MPs, CSOs want government to invest in disaster preparedness
Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | The Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation has challenged government to increase the budgetary allocation towards disaster response and management programs as a way of protecting Ugandans against floods. Addressing a press conference at Parliament Monday 26, March 2018, organized by Civil Society …
Read More »Mobile phones help transform disaster relief
Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Mobile phones are helping transform how relief agencies respond to humanitarian crises by enabling them to pin point where aid is needed most after hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters. At the same time, mobile apps that need just a few taps of the finger to …
Read More »48 Malians drown in single day trying to reach Europe: government
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Flags flew at half-mast in Mali on Thursday as the government announced 48 of its citizens drowned in the Mediterranean on a single day over the weekend, all trying to reach Europe. The west African nation accounted for the fifth largest contingent of arrivals to …
Read More »‘It could have been me’: S.Leone struggles to recover from disaster
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Gathered in a Freetown church, worshippers struggled Sunday to come to terms with the devastation wrought by the flooding and mudslide that struck the Sierra Leone capital six days ago, as the arduous search for bodies continued. “I just close my eyes and imagine, I …
Read More »Death toll in SLeone flood disaster reaches 441
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | The death toll from a mudslide and flooding that struck Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown has reached 441, the government said on Saturday. “Four hundred and forty-one corpses (were) buried as at yesterday,” the deputy minister of information and communication, Cornelius Deveaux, told AFP, adding that …
Read More »Humanitarian crisis looms as Sierra Leone deaths reach 400
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Aid workers in Sierra Leone warned of a humanitarian crisis on Friday as the official death toll passed 400, with more than a hundred children among the victims — and a similar number orphaned. Heavy rains that hit the capital Freetown on Monday triggered the …
Read More »Mass burials for Sierra Leone flood victims
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | The first mass burials of victims of Sierra Leone’s devastating floods and mudslides take place on Thursday, as blame grew over government “inaction” over deforestation and poor urban planning. As it emerged that at least 105 of the dead were children, citizens and experts alike …
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