Frantic digging at scene of deadly Ethiopia landslides

At the scene Ethiopia’s deadliest landslides men are still digging through mounds of mud with their bare hands, spades and pick axes to find those missing - their efforts punctuated by the wails of women and children mourning the 229 people whose bodies have so far been found.

They are victims of a cruel act of nature: on Sunday, heavy rains caused a landslide in a village perched high on a mountain in the remote Gofa zone.

With four homes engulfed by the landslide, nearby villagers and police officers came in large numbers to dig through the mud in the hope of finding the occupants alive, while women and children looked on, praying and consoling each other.

The search continued on Monday, only for a second landslide to occur, burying hundreds of people - no-one knows exactly how many - under the mud.

When I arrived in Gofa, in the south-west of Ethiopia, late on Wednesday, between 100 and 200 mostly young men, were still digging as relatives sat nearby, hoping for the best.

The diggers had no earth-moving equipment - nothing has been flown in so far and it is impossible to bring it in as there is no road leading to the village.

There is only a narrow and now-muddy footpath along a cliff. It is a dangerous and steep climb up - and the walk down is also dangerous.

When a body has been found families have been forced to carry their relative down this footpath for a formal burial.

Sombre-looking men have been building tombs over graves, while women and children in these farming communities have not stopped weeping.

Disaster relief officials have been quoted as saying that drones are being used in the search-and-rescue operations.

One man I spoke to said he spotted them on Tuesday, but he has not seen any since.

For the villagers, there is only one option: to keep digging with spades, pick axes and their bare hands in the hope of finding their loved ones - alive.

Fortunately, the weather held up on Wednesday, making it easier.

Gofa is part of the state known as Southern Ethiopia, located around 320km (199 miles) south-west of the capital, Addis Ababa.

It is among the areas of the country that have been hit by particularly heavy rain and flooding in recent months.

But instances of landslides and floods go back further.

In May 2016, at least 50 people were killed in floods and landslides following heavy rain across the south of the country.

The UN’s humanitarian office (Ocha) says $3bn (£2.3bn) is needed for Ethiopia to help those affected by El Niño over the last year - which has brought drought and flooding - as well as conflict, but the drive had been “woefully underfunded”.

“With the extremes of rain coming we also expect more of these kinds of emergencies to continue,” Ocha's Ethiopia head, Paul Handley, told the BBC's Newsday programme.

In the area engulfed by the landslides, there were concerns about the stability of the slope and 10,000 people in the area needed to be evacuated “out of harm’s way”, Mr Handley added.

Additional reporting by the BBC's Basillioh Rukanga in Nairobi.

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