EU provides Shs 330 million to aid landslide victims

In response to the devastating floods and landslides that hit the Mount Elgon region in eastern Uganda, the European Union has provided €80,000 (UGX 334,341,520) in humanitarian funding to assist the families in need of aid.

This EU funding will support the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) to deliver urgently needed assistance for families in the affected districts of Bududa, Sironko, Mbale and Butaleja.

The aid provided includes tents to families without a shelter, basic essential items such as blankets and mosquito nets, healthcare services, access to safe water and awareness raising on preventing waterborne diseases.

The Uganda Red Cross will also offer psychosocial support to the families in need, many of whom had to leave their homes.

As many as 2,840 people will directly benefit from this assistance.

Over 125 000 people in the communities at large will indirectly benefit from the hygiene promotion activities aimed a tpreventing diseases.

This funding is part of the EU's overall contribution to the Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The flash floods and landslides were caused by torrential rainfall that poured in the Mount Elgon

region at the beginning of June, killing 6 people, injuring 27 and directly affecting over 2 800 people.

These people lost their homes, essential belongings, and cropland.

Their means of earning a living were also disrupted.

The mudslides and floodwaters destroyed safe water and hygiene sources, exposing communities to the risk of waterborne diseases.

There is currently a cholera outbreak in

Bududa, with one registered cholera-related death and twenty-eight suspected or confirmed cases in

health facilities.