A devastating landslide at a garbage dump in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has claimed 13 lives, with rescue operations still underway to find more survivors. The disaster occurred late Friday night at the Kiteezi landfill, the city’s only dumping site, after weeks of heavy rain caused a section of the massive waste pile to collapse.
The landslide buried several homes on the edge of the landfill, trapping residents while they slept. At least 14 people have been rescued alive from the wreckage, but the exact number of those still trapped remains unclear. The Uganda Red Cross has set up tents to provide shelter for the displaced.
This tragedy is not an isolated incident, as similar disasters have occurred in other parts of Africa due to poorly managed waste disposal sites. In 2017, a landslide at a garbage dump in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killed 115 people, and in 2018, a similar event in Maputo, Mozambique, resulted in 17 deaths.
Rescue efforts continue, with footage showing excavators working to clear the debris and residents walking across the collapsed landfill. Heavy rains have caused flooding and landslides in several areas of Uganda in recent weeks, but no other fatalities had been reported until this incident.
