Rescuers clawed through mud and debris with their hands, garden tools and heavy equipment in eastern Ethiopia on Monday, searching for hundreds of people missing after lethal flash floods.
While relatives began identifying victims of the weekend flooding in and around the provincial town of Dire Dawa, officials said 206 bodies had been recovered but the toll was expected to climb as 300 people were still unaccounted for.
”We have been able to recover 206 bodies and we have also rescued 96 injured people,” said an official with Ethiopia’s federal Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission.
”The search-and-rescue efforts are still going on but we expect the death toll to rise,” the official said on condition of anonymity after flying into Dire Dawa with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to inspect the damage.
”It is a sad day to all of us,” Meles said in the town of about 400 000, about 500km east of Addis Ababa. ”We have lost our brothers and sisters.”
He added: ”The Ethiopian government will do everything in its power to bring normal life back to the people of Dire Dawa and to give all needed support to those affected by the disaster.”
But his consoling words appeared to have little effect on survivors who wandered the devastated streets, weeping and moaning, many unable to comprehend how the now-receded raging waters caused so much damage.
”I lost my husband and my child; my life is now nothing,” said 32-year-old Bezunesh Abegaz. ”I don’t see any hope or future for me.
”I saw them die in a terrible way, but at least I can draw comfort from having recovered and buried them. Now, I’m sorry for my neighbours who have not yet found the bodies of their loved ones.”
At least 39 of the confirmed dead are children under the age of seven, according to police, who said many of the casualties were women, children and the elderly who were sleeping and unable to escape when the floods hit.
Residents said they were using their bare hands, hoes, trowels, shovels as well as bulldozers and other earth-moving equipment to dig through sand, mud and rubble in search of bodies or people still alive.
Aid workers said about 10 000 people had been left homeless by the waters from the swollen Dechatu and Dire Dawa rivers that broke their banks, sweeping through the town and nearby villages, killing many while they slept.
The floods in the Addis Ketema, Genfele, Coca Cola and Aftessa districts caused massive property damage, destroying hundreds of homes, trading stalls and cutting a key road linking the town to Addis Ababa, they said.
In addition, the waters brought down electricity and telephone lines, further complicating rescue efforts in an area in Ethiopia’s lowlands that is prone to flooding during the June-to-September rainy season, they said.
Last year, at least 200 people were killed and more than 260 000 displaced when heavy rains pounded the region, flooding rivers that quickly attracted large numbers of crocodiles and forced survivors to cling to trees to escape.
Over the past several years, flooding has affected large areas of eastern and southern Ethiopia, displacing tens of thousands of people and causing damage worth millions of dollars, particularly to agriculture.
The floods follow a devastating drought that hit the East Africa region, threatening the lives of about 15-million people in five countries, including Ethiopia and neighbouring Somalia and Kenya.
Ethiopia, a nation of about 70-million people, has repeatedly been ravaged by natural calamities, notably drought and famine. — Sapa-AFP