The Nation Newspaper

Tag: mudslide

  • Mudslide kills girl, 5, in Magodo

    •Death toll in Ilasamaja collapse  building hits four

    A five-year-old girl has been killed by mudslide in Magodo Phase II, Lagos.

    The incident occurred at 21, Odofian Street, around 7pm last Friday.

    Sarah was playing with her friend, Khadija, when the mud fell on them.

    Khadija was rushed to hospital because of her injuries.

    Rescue workers comprising Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Fire Service, police and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have recovered the body.

    Death toll in the Ilasamaja building collapse hit four yesterday, with the discovery of another body from the rubble.

    Relatives of some of the workers at the site told The Nation yesterday that they were yet to see their loved ones, raising fears that more people could still be under the debris

    They said at least four persons were still missing.

    According to them, flies have begun perching on the debris which they said was a sign that people were still underneath.

    LASEMA General Manager, Adesina Tiamiyu confirmed the mudslide and warned residents of the dangers in playing around the place.

    He appealed to parents to monitor their kids when they go out to play, adding that Sarah’s body was handed over to her mother for burial.

    On the Ilasamaja incident, Tiamiyu said responders would begin a clean-up of the area to forestall public health issues.

    He confirmed that another body was found around midnight yesterday, saying his officers were on out post disaster clearing.

    Tiamiyu said: “Yes, we recovered another body around 12am. It was found under the debris during a post-disaster clearing of the site.

    “This has brought the total number of mortality to four persons, while those rescued alive remain 19, all male.

    “The body is yet to be identified and has been deposited by the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) at the Mainland Hospital Mortuary, Yaba.

    “We will carry out a clean-up of the site as soon as it was completely cleared to forestall public health issues at Ilasa and environs.”

  • Lagos gives mudslide victims’ dad N5m

    Lagos gives mudslide victims’ dad N5m

    It was a moving scene yesterday at the Lagos State Secretariat as the government gave a N5million cheque to Mr Okeoseye Odia, who lost four children to a mudslide in Magodo about three weeks ago.

    The four boys were killed after the mudslide hit their home at 50 Otun Araromi Street, Orisha, Magodo Phase1 following a downpour on Novermber 7.

    Their father broke down in tears when he collected the cheque.

    The tragedy, Odia said, was too much for him to bear, adding that he would not return to the community.

    Presenting the cheque to him, Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations Mr Seye Oladejo said the government would look after the family.

    He noted that, no amount of assistance could replace the loss, saying the gesture would assist the family to secure accommodation, cope socio-economically and get on with life.

    Oladejo said: “As part of government magnanimity and commitment at alleviating the impact of this disastrous and unfortunate incident on the Odia Family, Governor Akinwumi Ambode has graciously approved financial assistance to the family. But we are using this opportunity for people who are living in dangerous areas to please vacate such areas.

    “The incident is very unfortunate, we are not happy to do this. Imagine a family losing four children. But the lesson there is that some of these tragedies could be avoided.

    Lagos State Emergency Management Agency,(LASEMA) General Manager Mr Michael Akindele said the agency helped the family to recover and bury the children.

    Akindele said: “While we commiserate with the family, we also urge people to begin to value their lives, they should vacate potential dangerous areas. Prevention is better than cure.“

    Akindele also raised the alarm over looming disaster in Idumota Lagos Island, saying the agency just got a tip-off about a building that has partially collapsed three times. The landlord, he said, was about patching the building again.

     

  • U.S. mudslide death toll hits 24

    The Snohomish County medical examiner on Tuesday said that the death toll from a mudslide in the western United States of America had reached 24 as at Monday.

    It said the officials had succeeded in reducing the numbers of missing persons from 30 to 22.

    It said no survivors had been located in the huge debris field since the ridge gave way above the small logging town of Oso following month of rains in Washington State.

  • I’ve lost everything, says man whose family died in mudslide

    I’ve lost everything, says man whose family died in mudslide

    Forty-year-old Amos Akaniyene who lost his family in Tuesday’s mudslide at Edim Otop of Atimbo in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State has relived his ordeal.

    “I’m finished. I am the only one left.”

    Members of Akaniyene’s family -his expectant wife, three children, his mother-in-law and sister-in-law- were buried in a mudslide which rolled off the side of a hill and collapsed on his house.

    He sat with a glazed look in his eye, crying: “My child was calling daddy, daddy. I did everything I could do as a man. I could not save my family. My expectant wife was carrying twins. My three children. My mother-in-law and her daughter, all gone.”

    He got up suddenly and spun around as one possessed and sat back almost immediately. “The only thing I have left is the cloth I am wearing now,” he whispered.

    Akaniyene, who is from Ikono in Akwa Ibom State, was in shock. His eyes were dry; no tears as he narrated the incident that claimed his family.

    He said it rained all day on Tuesday and they noticed some rubble coming down the hill. He had gone to search for a shovel to redirect the erosion, but it was an “avalanche” as the entire hill suddenly rolled down and collapsed on his house, burying everybody inside.

    “If I had known, I would have removed them from the house first,” he cried.

    Akaniyene, who is a mason, said he built the six-bedroom house in 2010. “The house just collapsed and finished everything I have worked for in this life. The only thing I have now is this cloth I am wearing.”

    When The Nation visited the area yesterday, people were wailing.

    The building was at the bottom of a ravine-like area, with hills rising like a wall just beside it.

    Several other houses, it was observed, were in the same position. The area is referred to as Burrow Pit and is a place where people dig for sand.

    Ndifereke Augustine was one of those who tried to save the situation.

    He escaped death. He was also buried when more mud came down from the hillside but he managed to escape.

    He said: “I was sleeping when I heard the commotion and I came out to see the situation and help. I was also buried. I don’t even know how I survived.

    “This is the first time it has happened like this. This place is called burrow pit and there is no gutter to carry water out of here. People come here to pack sand. Government should give us another land, if they want us to leave here.

    “I tried to work with Akaniyene but it was to no avail. There were women and children inside and we could not remove them. We have been living here for the past five years.

    “A similar thing had happened here some years ago, but nobody died, only a building was destroyed. Government should help us control the erosion in this area,” he said.

    Vice-Chairman of Calabar Municipality David Nsemo said people who were living in the area were doing so illegally. He said there had been calls on them severally to leave the place as it was not safe.