ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia announced a three-day national mourning on Friday following a catastrophic landslide in the southern region of Kencho Shacha Gozdi that has resulted in more than 250 fatalities.
Rescue teams are continuing their grim search for bodies in the remote locality, as survivors bury their dead in the aftermath of what is now the deadliest landslide on record in the Horn of Africa nation.
The United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA reported on Thursday that the death toll stands at 257, with fears that it could rise to as high as 500. Local authorities have been cited as the source of this information.
“The House of Peoples’ Representatives has announced a three-day national mourning for the people who lost their lives in the landslide accident,” Ethiopia’s parliament stated. The period of mourning is set to begin on Saturday.
The statement, disseminated by the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, noted that the mourning period aims to provide “comfort to their relatives and all the people of our country.”
Earlier on Friday, the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission confirmed that humanitarian aid and rehabilitation efforts are “well under way” in the affected region. The commission has established a “structure for emergency disaster response coordination and integration,” estimating that 6,000 people need to be relocated.
OCHA further indicated that more than 15,000 people are at risk and need evacuation, including small children and thousands of pregnant women or new mothers. Aid has started to arrive, including four trucks from the Ethiopian Red Cross Society.
Officials revealed that many of the victims were buried while attempting to rescue others following an initial landslide triggered by heavy rains on Sunday. The disaster struck approximately 480 kilometers (300 miles) from the capital, Addis Ababa.
International condolences have been received from various quarters, including the African Union, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian.
Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, frequently faces climate-related disasters. Currently, more than 21 million people, about 18 percent of the population, rely on humanitarian aid due to conflict, flooding, or drought.
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