People had been wailing inconsolably, biting their nails and gnawing their teeth due to the accident that occurred at 7:30 PM, Saturday March 11, 2017. The accident was caused by the avalanche of a rubbish dump. It claimed the lives of scores of people in an area usually called Qoshe, Kolfe-Keranyo Sub-City of Addis Ababa (Qoshe is an Amharic term its literal meaning equivalent to a heap of rubbish).
The nation had been gripped with unprecedented tragedy over the death of scores of its citizens. So far, the cause of the accident had not been identified except mere speculation about the lengthy fermentation of the long-dumped rubbish and its sudden sliding and explosion. The accident was aggravated by a gush of rubbish wide enough to inundate helpless dwellers who were about to start the night’s rest.
One convalescent woman, who had been recuperating in Alert Hospital, said that the avalanche had reduced her to dead alive. It has snatched her two daughters and husband. Most regrettably, she said, evanescent voice of one of her dead daughter calling for help, ‘’mom save me! Mom save me!’’, is still ringing in her ears. The woman lamented terribly that the avalanche flooded the entire village and overwhelmed everything within its reach.
She said her whole body is aching due to fracture and dislocation caused by the avalanche of rubbish dump that heaped upon her all of a sudden and swept down everything on its way. The woman said she survived miraculously, though she does not think her future life will be worth living.
Today scores of survivors have been temporarily sheltered in Kolfe-Keranyo youth Center building, makeshift camps and tents. They said the City Administration, Ethiopian Red Cross Society and various NGOs are providing some emergency relief aid used to alleviate their problem temporarily. City dwellers are also scrambling to help them personally and in groups. However, their last hope to lasting stability and rehabilitation is pinned on the City Administration which they said is capable to provide those plots and readymade condominiums.
Some bereaved families said they have been living in the area for the last forty years, since the start of dumping rubbish in the area. They said they have gained ownership certificates for their plots and they have undertaken legal construction of houses until the time swept away by an avalanche of rubbish. The accumulation of rubbish dump has swept through shelters ranging from poorly-built shacks, ram shackles and debris houses to well-built concrete houses.
Some villagers said the accident had eroded its way through some 15 known legal residences. The rubbish dump barrage had also flooded away numerous shacks and derelict shelters. The accident had occurred at night and the murky time had made the rescue effort very difficult and compounded the cause of mortality of individuals.
People said the area had been dumping ground of City rubbish for the last sixty years. It is 37 hectares wide, 13 meters high and 40 meters and the actual limit of Quoshe was 200 meters away from victim residences. There was also a field and a river between the over-hanging dump site and the villages. The field was wide enough and village boys were used to playing football on it. However, the dump site started to swell up with time and started to impinge on villagers. Soon the river was clogged with rubbish and its natural course was hampered as far as spilling its rubbish content into the village.
Regarding the disastrous, villagers said the large-scale rescue effort had officially been started on Sunday afternoon, in the following morning. But it was too late due to night fall (they are suspicious of the fact that the calamity had been exacerbated may be due to negligence of some officials and their inconvenient way of response). It might have been possible to save more lives had the rescue effort been started speedily. Seeing the sluggish response to save lives, some villagers said, they tried to provide assistance individually by renting excavator machines which cost them 9,000 Birr an hour.
However, the leased machines could not get them anywhere and solve the problem as much as they wished. Their limited financial capacity cannot purchase ample machines to unload the huge rubbish that inundated lots of hectares of land and clear clogged venues needed to make easy movement.
The Nation had declared three days national mourning from March 15-17, 2017.The number of dead had reached 125 as of March17, 2016. In the aftermath, people are expressing condolence to the bereaved families and are bustling to comfort them immediately. So far, Amhara and Oromiya States had granted five million Birr each, aimed to undertake rehabilitative activities for the ones who survived the avalanche.
Addis Ababa City Administration Mayor, Driba Kuma said that the Administration had deeply saddened by the accident caused by Qoshe dump avalanche. He said the City Administration is running hurriedly to rehabilitate the survivors and undertake rescue and search activities. He said vigorous activities are being undertaken to provide shelter and food to the survivors and bury the dead exhumed during the rescue.
The Mayor said prime significance has been attached to rehabilitating the survivors and relocating them. To this end, a task force has been established to coordinate the relief efforts and provide a lasting solution to the problems associated with the rubbish dumping.The task force is being chaired by the Mayor eyed at giving speedy response and properly addressing the problem.
However, the survivors had complained that the assistance being provided to them is inadequate enough to meet their demands. In addition, the May Day calls to rescue and save our souls, they said, had been met with sluggish response. As a witness, they said, anyone can understand the time difference between the emergency call at the time of the accident and the belated time (on Sunday afternoon) on which official operation of rescue was commenced.
They said they had tried to curb encroaching of rubbish dumping into their residence. Seeing that the huge heap of rubbish dump bulging towards their residence, they also said, they had so many times applied to the mayor’s office to be given alternative sites used to construct houses. However, they alleged that their plea had fallen on deaf ears and the red tape and the long delay had incurred the current disaster and ensuing doom and gloom.
They also claimed the Administration has so many times promised to make the area more salubrious for the residents in the locality. Hence, it had agreed to shift the dumping ground to elsewhere and allocate more budgets to beautify and regenerate the area.
Some even excoriated the government that the current landslide is caused by the indifference of the government to take relevant measures on waste disposal and relocate residents to habitable corners. They further chided the Administration that it does not enforce appropriate policy on waste disposal and (the number of squatter victims, witnesses) its land management is messy, otherwise it might not have kept silent while those all victims go on living in sub-human condition until perishing in an accident.
Despite the allegation and accusation of some residents, the City Administration said on time efforts had and have been exerted to save lives. Currently, more than 65 million birr had been collected from various governmental and non-governmental institutions, including regional states. Hence, rehabilitation activities will soon be started soon after identifying the number of dead and undertaking public funeral activities (the administration has donated 10,000 birr to each bereaved family to cover cost of burial).
As part of the endeavor, the Mayor stated, experts from Addis Ababa and Texas Universities are undertaking detailed studies as to how to deal with the rubbish dumping site, recycle rubbish, generate renewable energy and transform the locality to opportunity development and utilize it for poverty alleviation (contrary to the gruesome news of death, power plant has been established at Koshie site, at a cost of 120 million USD. The plant is designed to recycle rubbish dumped in the area and generate 50MW of electricity).
Rigorous investigation is being undertaken to accurately identify the cause of the accident and the number of victims. The investigation will help realize the panacea solution to know the number of people that need urgent assistance, the amount of finance needed for rehabilitation and permanent settlement program. The investigation will also help dispel rumors and defuse exasperation of bereaved families triggered by fabricated allegations.
Natural and man-made disasters are unpredictable. What matters is building capacity and readiness to deal with disasters and close all recipes of predictable disasters. The Nation will continue to grapple with the problems and strive to the top of its capacity to alleviate the problems of citizens. Besides, to successfully rehabilitate victims, the community should lend more helping hand to victims and work in collaboration with the government.
If there is life, there is hope. Survivors have continued their struggle to cope with deep grief and misery of life. The local community and the government are providing daily bread and temporary shelter. Hopes are great that survivors may soon forget their misery and start a new life in a new habitable home.