150 People Killed in Landslide in Southern Ethiopia

Nearly 150 people were killed on Monday due to a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall in southern Ethiopia, according to local authorities on Tuesday. They warned that the death toll could rise further.

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A statement from the Gofa administrative authorities reported finding “146 bodies, including 96 men and 50 women, with intensive search operations ongoing,” and noted that “the death toll is likely to increase.”

The official Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority also reported, citing a regional official, that the initial death toll was 157, and that five survivors had been found.

This is the worst landslide ever recorded in Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa (120 million people) located in the Horn of Africa.

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The Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority noted that, according to Dagimawi Aili, a Gofa region official, most of the victims were buried on Monday while they were assisting residents of a house damaged by an initial landslide.

The disaster occurred in Kibeli (the smallest administrative division) in the Kinscho area of the Woreda region of Gizi-Gofa, a rural, mountainous area that is difficult to access, located more than 450 kilometers and ten hours’ drive from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

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Dagimawi said, “The people who rushed to save lives died, including the local official, teachers, health workers, and farmers.”

An Ethiopian living in Nairobi, from a neighboring region to Gofa and who wished to remain anonymous, described the affected area as “rural, isolated, and mountainous. The ground there is not stable, so when there are heavy rains, the soil collapses immediately.”