A landslide triggered by heavy rains in southern Ethiopia’s Wolaita area has killed at least 13 people, with the number of fatalities expected to rise, a local official said Monday.
Samuel Fola, zone chief administrator of Wolaita, stated that more than 300 people have been evacuated from the Kindo Didaye district, and the number of those unaccounted for remains unknown.
“Children are among the dead,” Fola said. “We have now evacuated more than 300 people as a precaution and in anticipation of yet another likely major landslide.”
A frantic rescue effort is underway in the Wolaita area, according to the regional government.
Monday’s landslide appeared less deadly than one last month in another area of southern Ethiopia, where more than 200 people were killed.
Landslides are common during Ethiopia’s rainy season, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September. The mountainous areas of Wolaita, with little infrastructure, are particularly prone to such accidents.
In 2016, over 41 people died, and hundreds were displaced in the same area after heavy rains triggered a deadly mudslide.
Last month, in neighboring Gamo Gofa, a major mudslide claimed the lives of more than 229 people. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the toll could be as high as 500.
Deadly mudslides often occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda’s mountainous east to central Kenya’s highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya’s Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road.