Kabale District Disaster Management Committee is none functional amidst fears of fresh landslides amongst residents living in hilly areas. Godfrey Bulemezi, a resident of Bukinda sub-county says that they are living in fear of landslides because of the heavy rains. Bulemezi is worried that the disaster may occur too soon.
Bukinda Sub County is one of the most vulnerable areas to landslides in Kabale. Bulemezi says that despite the fears of landslides the district disaster management committee members have done little to sensitize residents. Charles Ssembabulidde, Kabale district Police commander, a member of the district disaster management committee says that they have never to plan ahead of the crisis.
Ssembabulidde says they need to plan as some of the hills have started showing signs of cracks that might result in landslides. Cox Nyakairu, Kabale Resident District Commissioner is the head of the district disaster management committee admits they are ill prepared in case disaster strikes.
Nyakairu says they have put nothing in place but says they plan to start sensitizing members of the public early enough. Frank Ntaho, Kabale Chief administrative officer says that the district lack resources to support disaster prevention measures. He faults members of the district disaster committee of failing to plan early enough and only run to the district after the disaster has occurred.
Recently, MPs from Kabale called for the introduction of an ordinance forcing residents to terrace their land to control soil erosion and mitigate landslides. A research conducted by Kabale University in 2010 blames the increased occurrence of landslides in the district on poor farming methods.
