About nine people, including seven children from one family, have reportedly died in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after heavy rain led to a landslide that swept away several homes late on Friday, according to local officials.
A resident of Kabulu village in Congo’s South Kivu province had lost his wife and seven children in the landslide, according to territorial administrator Thomas Bakenga who told reporters this information on phone on Saturday.
“Another child was killed elsewhere,” Bakenga said, adding that the death toll could increase as the search for other missing people continued.
Meanwhile, a local civil society group said seven homes had been swept away leaving 31 damaged, and putting the death toll at 10.
This recent tragedy could be attributed to the poor urban planning and weak infrastructure across Congo making communities more vulnerable to heavy rainfall, which is becoming more intense and recurrent in Africa due to the ever increasing warming temperatures, according to climate experts.
In April, Heavy rain in southwest Congo caused a ravine to collapse onto a river killing about 12 people. Several more had died in similar circumstances last December.
