Ethiopia Gofa landslide: My family went to help landslide victims and ended up dead

Meseresh Gosayye, a mother of six, was caring for her children at her hilltop home in the Gofa region of southern Ethiopia when she heard the sound of a landslide that trapped many people in the mud.

“We heard people screaming and we ran down the hill,” she said, struggling to hold back tears as she recalled what happened Sunday.

The Kencho Saccha Gozdi region where Meserek lives is a collection of small villages scattered across hills and at risk of floods and landslides.

The series of settlements, characterized by mud-walled, tin-roofed houses, are some built at or near the top of the lush slopes, while others, including one buried by a landslide, are clustered at the base of the hills.

Heavy rains preceded Sunday’s disaster, making sidewalks in the area narrow, slippery and dangerous.

But without hesitation, Meserek, her husband and several of her children rushed to the scene of the accident.

“When I got there, I could see the Earth. [had swallowed] “They destroyed houses,” she told the BBC.

They joined throngs of villagers who had also arrived after hearing the news and instinctively began digging through the earth and mud, often using only their hands, to try to free those buried below.

More rescue teams arrived in the hours that followed, but their efforts were limited: a few people survived and were rescued, but many remained trapped.

“It was a sad day,” Meserek said.

Recognizing that more manpower and effort was needed, local authorities began mobilizing relief efforts.

The next day, at an emergency meeting, they instructed all able-bodied children and older children to grab whatever farm tools they could get their hands on — shovels, axes, hoes — and work together.

The site was inaccessible to vehicles with larger handling equipment.

Meserek’s husband and two eldest sons, ages 15 and 12, quickly joined the search and rescue effort while she returned home from meetings to breastfeed her young son and cook for her other children.

She then went back down the hill to render help, but a different, and more devastating, scene awaited her: a second landslide had occurred, burying most of the rescuers.

Unable to control her emotions, she rushed towards the land that had engulfed her husband and children, but someone stopped her, warning her that there was still danger.

“I was told I still have children at home and I have to survive for them.”

Within hours, news of this double tragedy spread to nearby villages and towns.

Families were frantically searching for missing loved ones, and several were quickly pronounced dead, including a local chief who had mobilised residents after the first landslide.

At one point, Meserek said, “I saw a digger pulling up someone’s body. I thought it was my husband. I started helping out.”

“We thought he was alive, but he was dead. He was still holding the axe when we went to help him.” [those buried in the first landslide].

“I didn’t recognise his face. Just to be sure, I checked his breast pocket because I knew his ID was in there. It was him. I screamed.”

While her husband’s body was being moved to a safe location along with the other detained bodies, Meserek was unable to accompany her two sons as they were still missing.

“I was unsure whether to go or stay.”

The body of his 12-year-old son was later discovered – and by the time he spoke to the BBC on Thursday his 15-year-old son had not been found.

“How can I [suffered] “I gave birth to children, raised them and educated them. This is very sad for me,” she said, overcome with grief.

But Meserek is not alone in his grief: many families here are also facing death.

Some 257 people are confirmed dead in the two landslides, and the United Nations estimates the death toll could reach 500 as more mud is dredged up in the coming days.

Selawit Yohannes, whose father and half-brother are still missing, told the BBC that most people have loved ones missing or confirmed dead and “even our relatives won’t help us with exhumations” because they themselves “have two or three family members to look for”.

According to the UN, 15,000 people need to be relocated from the hills to avoid future disasters, which will require a huge amount of effort and funding.

But it will take time for Meserek to process his feelings after his son is found.

It will be a long time before the community begins to recover.