Families and rescue workers were looking for an unknown number of missing persons on Monday, four days after floods and landslides caused by torrential rains killed at least 400 people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the administrator of the Kalehe area in South Kivu province, where communities have been destroyed, the current death toll is 400 persons, including bodies discovered in Lake Kivu.
According to the UN humanitarian affairs agency OCHA, approximately 3,000 families remain homeless, and the number of individuals missing is unknown.
Alpha Safari from Bushushu village told AFP that he has lost 12 relatives, buried five bodies, and had seven others gone missing. He said that he was looking for them in the hopes that they could at least find the bodies so that he could bury his relatives with dignity.
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On Thursday evening, a mud wall tumbled down the mountainside, covering part of the community where homes and people have washed away, some into a nearby lake.
Children dig in the dirt. One of them covers his face. Another body has been discovered.
A red cross worker who opted to remain anonymous said that The search continues because there are many bodies under the devastation. Adding that they find bodies buried in the mud every time they demolish houses.
According to experts, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.
The calamity in eastern DR Congo occurred just two days after floods killed over 131 people and wrecked thousands of homes on the opposite side of Lake Kivu in neighbouring Rwanda.
DR Congo, a large country the size of continental Western Europe, is one of the world's poorest, plagued by corruption and conflict in the east.
On Saturday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to Burundi. This is yet another illustration of rapid climate change and its devastating impact on countries that have done little to contribute to global warming.
