UN Continues To Help Ugandan Landslide Victims

UN Continues To Help Ugandan Landslide Victims

New York, Mar 18 2010 5:10PM The United Nations is continuing to assist people in eastern Uganda affected by deadly landslides, which have killed at least 94 people since they occurred earlier this month.

Another 300 people are still missing in Bududa district, near the extinct volcano of Mount Elgon on the Kenyan border. Search-and-retrieval operations led by the Ugandan army are ongoing.

Last week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than 300,000 people near the mountain and the neighbouring lowlands have been displaced.

Nearly 800 households are sheltering in Bulucheke camp, and that number is ultimately expected to climb to 900, the Office said today.

Following the lead of the Ugandan Government, the UN peacekeeping mission in nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) helped to conduct an assessment to see whether it is possible to deploy more effective equipment to move rubble.

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has cleared a landing site for the UN mission, known as MONUC, to airlift this equipment. MONUC has also supplied a heavy-lift helicopter to transport backhoes or digging machines to the area.

For its part, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has sent recreational kits for 800 children, and along with its partners, will provide school services within Bulucheke camp.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has helped distribute one month’s worth of food to the nearly 800 households in the camp, and UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) are immunizing children against polio and measles.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is training communities on how to preserve cassava cuttings ahead of the next planting season.

More than 33,000 people have been affected in Butaleja district, mainly due to the loss of crops, OCHA reported today.

ENDS