Earth Science News
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
On the edge: DR Congo city stalked by fear of landslides
On the edge: DR Congo city stalked by fear of landslides
By Annie THOMAS and Ricky OMBENI
Bukavu, Dr Congo (AFP) May 25, 2023

"We're scared, but where can we go?" said Christine Nzigire, in her rickety wooden house perched precariously on a hillside.

She once had tenants, but they left in a panic after a mudslide ripped through the neighbourhood in March.

"When it rains too hard, we take shelter with our neighbours," Nzigire, 37, explained.

To the outside world, Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic, presents a picturesque image.

Clapboard houses pack the hills that overlook Lake Kivu, one Africa's Great Lakes.

But the city's genial appearance belies a growing risk, for the poor, of being swept away.

Bukavu's chronic fear of landslides rose a further notch this month when over 400 people were killed in Kalehe, just to the north.

Nzigire's neighbour Isabelle Zaninga, 38, was luckier than most -- her house stands on relatively solid ground.

Families took refuge inside her home during the most recent downpours, she told AFP.

Zaninga, like many other residents of Bukavu's Nyakaliba neighbourhood, fled to the city to escape conflict that has plagued eastern Congo for decades -- a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.

With little if any money, and practically no support, displaced people sought out the cheapest parts of the city and built on tiny plots of land.

Homes were often raised on slopes, without proper foundations or drainage that would channel rainwater safely away.

- Graveyard living -

Over the past 20 years, a new neighbourhood has even sprung up inside Bukavu's largest cemetery, by the Ruzizi river, which marks the border with neighbouring Rwanda.

Eric Zaluke, a father of two, lives in a small corrugated-iron shack abutting a tomb.

"No problem, we live in peace," Zaluke said.

Nearby, beans and manioc, also called cassava, grew between the graves.

Founded at the beginning of the 20th century by Belgian settlers, Bukavu was originally designed for 100,000 people, according to local civil-society figure Elvis Mupenda.

Today, the population is believed to be two million, although precise figures are hard to come by.

Jean de Dieu Cikonza Maroyi, 54, a communications officer in the provincial urban planning department, described the Bukavu of his childhood as a "fragrant" city of tree-lined avenues.

"It was a good place to live," he said.

Now, he said bluntly, the city was a "slum." Trees are a rarity and traffic clogs the major arteries.

Ladislas Witanene, a green activist, said that petty corruption had allowed people to circumvent building codes.

"We're building in drainage channels, on river banks," he said. "We're even pushing back the lake water to build" on reclaimed lake bed, he added.

"Imagine what will happen when water reclaims these spaces," added Witanene, noting that the city was studying options for relocating people to safer sites.

Climate change is also raising the risk of disaster, he explained: "Even in the dry season we can have torrential rains."

- Dilemma -

But hopes of moving people out of the hillside slums run into two hurdles.

Any relocation plan will come to naught if the shops and offices of central Bukavu -- the economic magnet that has lured the people to the city -- do not also move.

And money, too, is a perennial problem.

Faustin Buroko, the administrator of the Nyakaliba district, explained that 62 people there had been given new plots of land, but "most are not leaving because they cannot afford to rebuild" their homes.

In this district of 65,000 souls, the authorities recorded 270 fires or landslides between January and May alone, he said.

Robert Banywesize, a 45-year-old civil servant, pointed to a collapsed retaining wall that was holding back the earth by his house. His living-room floor had also caved in.

"This season it's rained a lot. There are no more trees to support the earth," he said, adding that there were also frequent earthquakes in the volcanic region.

"We were told to leave but without compensation, what can we do?" Banywesize asked.

Farther down the road stood a one-storey wooden house leaning dangerously forward.

Spooked by fears of imminent collapse, the owner had left. But he was replaced by his brother Justin, 32, and wife Sarah, 24, as well as their 16-month-old child.

"We don't have anywhere else to go," said Sarah, as Justin attempted to lighten the weight of the house by breaking up the concrete flooring with a hammer.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
UN urges Myanmar junta to open up to Cyclone Mocha relief
Geneva (AFP) May 24, 2023
The United Nations on Wednesday called for Myanmar to open up and ensure life-saving aid can get to parts of the country hit by deadly Cyclone Mocha. UN rights chief Volker Turk urged the country's military rulers to let needs assessments go ahead as the Southeast Asian nation reels from the cyclone's impact. Mocha brought lashing rain and winds of 195 kilometres (120 miles) per hour to Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh on May 14, collapsing buildings and turning streets into rivers. "The ... read more

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Children in quake-hit Syria learn in buses turned classrooms

UN urges Myanmar junta to open up to Cyclone Mocha relief

As 'Blue Helmets' turn 75, chief laments UN divisions

On the edge: DR Congo city stalked by fear of landslides

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
'We abuse plastic, it's so cheap': UN Environment chief

What do we know about the mechanics of two-dimensional materials

Researchers use AI to identify similar materials in images

Fleet Space raises new funding to globalise critical minerals exploration tech

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Pre-Hispanic aquaducts irrigate modern Peruvian crops

Two killed in clashes on Afghan-Iranian border: Taliban

Ivory Coast imposes fishing bans in bid to conserve stocks

US Supreme Court deals setback to clean water law

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Satellites provide crucial insights into Arctic amplification

UAF scientists to hunt for clues about Arctic Ocean glaciation

Antarctica's heart of ice has skipped a beat

Why Antarctic ice shelves are losing their mass and how it leads to global sea level rise

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Planet-friendly farming takes root in drought-hit Tunisia

SmartSat targets Australian agricultural intelligence from space

EU's next food fight: regulating gene-edited crops

Gaza beekeeper tends hives by restive border

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
NTT and OIST conduct first direct observations under Category 5 Typhoon in NW Pacific

Guam 'weathers storm' as Typhoon Mawar moves west

'Don Goyo's angry': the legends behind rumbling Mexican volcano

Tonga underwater volcano disrupted satellite signals halfway around the world

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Libya says air force strikes 'smuggler hideouts'

Fighting rages in Darfur as Sudan mediators report progress

In Sudan's capital, risking death in search of water

Venice exhibition shines light on Africa's forced urbanisation

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Serotonin's impact across molecular and whole-brain levels in a simple animal

Oldest architectural plans detail mysterious desert mega structures

Evidence of Ice Age human migrations from China to the Americas and Japan

Scientists reveal more inclusive update to human genome

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.