2023-05-10 12:30:04
The macabre count has only increased since the tragedy, but the coffins are still arriving in dribs and drabs. The first were sent by the government four days after a gigantic mudslide razed, almost completely, several villages in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the latest report from the authorities, 401 inhabitants of the territory of Kalehe perished in these extraordinary floods, 411 according to local civil society, a group of citizen associations.
On the scene of the disaster, Tuesday, May 9, a government delegation from the capital Kinshasa and made up of three ministers, the second vice-president of the National Assembly, deputies and the regional governor, promised to support the survivors in bringing food and new coffins. Quite a symbol as several political figures, including gynecologist Denis Mukwegue, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018, denounce the lack of burial and the hasty burials in mass graves.
You really have to act quickly. The bodies, some of which have been washed into nearby rivers and Lake Kivu, must be cleared quickly to avoid water contamination. Especially since cholera is endemic in the area. Bodies “who continue to be found as we speak “, tells the Monde, Tuesday, Delphin Kirimbi, for some in an advanced state of decomposition. The president of the civil society of Kalehe fears that the balance sheet will increase since “5,255 people are still missing”, he explains. A figure much higher than that communicated by the authorities who count 201 missing.
Many people have lost everything: their families, their homes, their livestock and their fields. Around 3,000 households are now homeless and 1,200 houses have been completely destroyed, according to the UN Humanitarian Coordination Office in the DRC (OCHA). The torrents of mud, which swept away everything in their path, surprised the inhabitants. However, this kind of phenomenon is not foreign to the area. Several floods have already taken place, notably in 2014 when hundreds of people were also missing. But this time it rained on a market day and the extent of the damage is unprecedented, residents say.
Soil pressure
Why these repeated disasters in Kahele? For the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterresit’s about “a new illustration of an acceleration of climate change”. But in the absence of reliable meteorological or rainfall data available, several Congolese researchers insist on human activity as the cause of these tragedies.
The area is distinguished by its mountainous landscapes, called high plateaus, and its steep slopes towards the narrow valley which leads to Lake Kivu. “In the 1950s, aerial photos prove that 80% of the territory of Kalehe was covered with forests. Today, only 5% remain. explains Jean-Claude Maki Mateso, from the Lwiro natural science research center in South Kivu. Deforestation, for firewood or to free agricultural land, increases the risk of landslides. “The heavy rains therefore lead to strong runoff from the summits to the lowlands where the dwellings are located”, continues Rigobert Bahati Birembano, geography teacher at the Higher Pedagogical Institute of Bukavu (ISP). To this are added “unsuitable agricultural techniques that accentuate erosion”specifies the geographer in Goma, Ciraba Honoré.
In Kalehe, the pressure on the soil is strong as the population is dense there. Especially since several thousand displaced people from the neighboring province of North Kivu have flocked to the territory fleeing insecurity and fighting between the Congolese army and the rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) in recent months. “The constructions are totally anarchic and the laws which prevent building a house too close to rivers, streams or lakes are not respected”, added the militant Delphin Kirimbi. “Yes, the responsibilities for the tragedy are shared between us, the population, unscrupulous state agents and the government. But the authorities must take their responsibilities and relocate the survivors as a matter of urgency. »
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