Deadly Floods Strike South Kivu: Villages Destroyed and Hundreds Missing

2023-05-05 23:45:00

Around 6 p.m. Thursday evening May 4, torrential rains began to fall, a real deluge that lasted regarding 2 hours.

Several villages were partially destroyed, but the greatest damage was recorded in Chabondo, Bushuru and Nyamukubi on the edge of Lake Kivu. Villages submerged when rivers burst their banks, taking houses with them. In other places, buildings, schools, health centers were buried by mudslides.

« Provisional assessment: 176 dead, 57 wounded interned, at least 100 missing and houses devastated by the waters and stones carried by the rivers “, wrote on Twitter Friday evening the governor of South Kivu, Theo Kasi who published photos.

All day Friday, civil society and local authorities tried to help the survivors and bring out the bodies buried in the mud. And even on board a canoe.

Delphin Birimbi from the civil society of Kalehe, testifies to this drama. Many people are missing, he explains:

« There are still many, many bodies, there are others who have gone into the lakes, since their houses have been taken into the lakes with the landslides. The highest number are the bodies that remained stuck in the ground. In any case, the balance sheet is much heavier. »

Material damage is also significant. The road linking Bushuru to Nyamukubi is cut in several places, sources of drinking water have been damaged, fields destroyed and many houses razed, forcing ” many families spending the night under the stars », explains Martin Kasole from civil society.

Civil society called on the authorities on Friday evening to release funds to help the survivors.

The authorities declared a national mourning on May 8 throughout the territory in the DRC to pay tribute to the victims of this natural disaster.

Read also : Floods in Rwanda: infrastructure hard hit

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