Mudslide deaths rise to 13, two unaccounted for

The death toll of last week’s mudslide in Keiyo South District has risen to 13.

This is after one more body was yesterday found in the mud a few kilometers from River Kerio.

Bodies of Kipruto, 14, a Standard Eight candidate at Menone Primary School, and two year-old Kipkogei Kibet from Simit village are still missing.

People searching for missing villagers found the body of a woman identified as Alice Cheruiyot, 37.

Residents said the deceased had rescued her three other children, but when she returned for the fourth one, Kipruto Cheruiyot, the floods swept her and the child.

Area DC Arthur Bunde said they have asked residents to be on the lookout especially on the riverbanks and rubbles of the destroyed houses for the missing bodies.

“Red Cross have been helpful and we have been searching for missing bodies together until we found the woman,” said the DC.

He added they would not relent on the search until all residents are accounted for. Survivors of the landslide continued receiving assistance as they camped in schools.

Fellow residents from Elgeyo/Marakwet County extended a helping hand to the over 60 displaced households.

Residents from Kamwago village and its environs donated food, clothes, and beddings to the victims who are camping at Chororget Primary School.

Titus Teimuge, co-ordinator of the exercise, said the victims needed help.

Teimuge said it was sad that after a whole year of hard work, the victims had their granaries washed away by heavy rains that further rendered them homeless.

He attributed the tragedy to cultivation on escarpment and constant cutting of trees that has weakened the soil cover.

Teimuge expressed the need for residents in the larger Keiyo South to start growing trees along the escarpment.

“It is time we take it upon ourselves to plant trees on the escarpment and avoid cultivating on the slopes because it weakens the soil cover,” Teimuge said.

Keiyo South MP, Jackson Kiptanui, has since appealed to the Government to relocate people living in landslide prone areas.

“The Government should fast track relocation of persons living in disaster prone areas. In this region alone, we have over 1,000 households who need urgent relocation,” Kiptanui said.

Thursday 3 January 2013

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