Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Saturday visited a remote and mountainous village hit by the country’s deadliest landslide which killed over 250 people.
Officials are still trying to pinpoint how many people were killed when heavy rain on Sunday triggered a landslide that engulfed the tiny locality of Kencho Shacha Gozdi, about 480 kilometres (300 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.
At least 257 have perished, according to the latest toll from the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA, which also warned that up to 500 might have died — with the number of missing unknown.
Ethiopia’s parliament announced three days of mourning from Saturday.
Abiy, who was accompanied by his wife and other leaders, planted a tree at the local cemetery, the south Ethiopia regional state office of the president said on social media.
Ethiopia is highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters.
Officials said most of the victims were buried when they rushed to help after the initial landslide which was followed by others.
Selamawit Kassa, a spokeswoman for Ethiopia’s government, said on Saturday the search operations would continue through the weekend.
“A head count has been made in every house. The information we have is that bodies of 18 people haven’t been found though there is a need for further investigation,” she told reporters in the capital Addis Ababa.
Some 500 displaced people were receiving emergency relief aid, she said, adding that efforts were underway to “prevent such types of landslides”.
South Ethiopia had been battered by the short seasonal rains between April and early May, which caused flooding and mass displacement.
Africa’s second most populous nation is often afflicted by climate-related disasters and more than 21 million people, or about 18 percent of the population, rely on humanitarian aid as a result of conflict, flooding or drought.
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