Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé offered “compassion and solidarity” to the families of those affected by the landslide of 8th October in the Mbankolo neighborhood of the capital city which claimed at least 27 lives ,with over 50 injured in the disaster.
“We are together in this,” Archbishop Mbarga said during a visit to the area on 10th October. “I feel your pain. I feel in your hearts fear, so many unanswered questions.”
“I just want to tell you not to give up. Don’t give up on prayer for only God can lift you and give you the assurance that such tragedy will never happen again in this place,” he added.
The rains unleashed floodwaters in the country’s capital on 8th October. Several hours of rainfall caused the collapse of a century-old dam, releasing a wall of water that swept everything on its path downstream. Houses were flattened and trees uprooted. Authorities in Cameroon have been demolishing houses in high-risk zones susceptible to floods and landslides.
Many of the buildings that collapsed had been marked for demolition, according to The Associated Press. During their visit to the disaster site on 9th October. , Cameroon officials Paul Atanga Nji and Célestine Ketcha Courtès blamed the local population for constructing houses in a zone prone to floods.
Picture: Rescuers search for bodies and survivors in Yaoundé, Cameroon, 9th October 2023, after a dam collapsed, causing flooding, destroying homes and killing dozens of people. (OSV News photo/Amindeh Blaise Atabong, Reuters)