Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Massive mudslides in Uganda, caused by heavy rains in recent days, have taken the lives of more than 50 people, with unverifiable reports coming in that more than 100may have died, with 400 people missing. Searchers are desperately working in heavy rains to free up trapped villages, but there appears little hope of finding more survivors in the rugged mountainous terrain east of the border with Kenya. In Geneva, the UNHCR announced it is organizing an initial stock of tents and plastic sheeting for emergency shelter for 5,000 people. Unicef is also involved in organizing aid.

The emergency in Uganda comes as international aid and humanitarian agencies are still struggling to raise funds and send teams to help in Chile and Haiti after their  earthquakes. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is appealing for CHF7 million for aid operations in Chile.

AllAfrica reports that efforts to provide aid to the stricken area in Uganda are hampered by lack of transport and the poor weather.

Links to other sites: AllAfrica, Euronews, NPR, Reuters AlertNet

Posted by Ellen Wallace on 3 March 2010 at 19:15 | permalink
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News story, GenevaLunch, 3 March 2010.

Filed under: International organizations

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.